Smash Brothers: Blood Ties
by fire assassin
Summary: Two years after the final battle with Graves, James now lives his life as champion of smash brothers, and as a father and husband to his family. However a new threat has arisen and it seems that someone that James knows is related to it. Can he and his allies, both new and old, stop it before it destroy everything? (Story might change to M rating down the road.)
1. The life of a father

**Alright I am back baby! This is the sequel to the story of Smash Bros Dark Vengeance. This story will be two years after the first story, and will focus on James, two new characters, and a powerful new threat that could destroy all that he worked hard to regain from Graves.**

**Also, if there is anyone who don't know about the past events of the story, go to my profile and look up 'Smash Bros. Dark Vengeance'.**

**PS: I have decided to take in all the characters that have been sent to me since i put up the trailers, so yes, all characters that were sent will appear in the story.**

**PSS: I am sorry that I am late; I had to deal with a lot of crap today that took up a lot of my time. Anyway on to the story.**

In a large house, placed a far distant from the neighborhood, a red headed woman sat on her couch as she held a young baby boy in her arms. The boy had light green eyes that were brighter than that of his father, and small black hair on his head.

The baby was asleep as the woman smiled a bit. "You go to sleep almost as fast as your sister did when she was a baby."

The woman then got to her feet as she went to put him in his crib. Once she did, she looked at him with joy before going back to the couch. As she did, she began to wonder how her husband and her daughter were doing.

**(A few miles away in town)**

"Hey daddy, can I have this one, please?" said a young little girl. She had red hair and purple eyes. She wore a blue shirt and black pants with a star clip on her hair.

The man who she called 'Daddy' walked up behind her. He stood to be 6 foot 3, with light fair skin and green eyes and a averagely muscular build and with black hair that reached to the end on his neck and was a little spikey. He wore black shoes, dark navy blue jeans, a black bomber jacket and a white t- shirt. He also had on a bronze wing with a symbol of a wolf on his left middle finger, a silver like bracelet on the left wrist, and a dog tag around his neck that had the word 'Black King' on it.

The father looked at the toy and smiled as he nodded. "Okay, hold on to it so I can buy it for you, okay?"

The girl nodded to his request as she grabbed it, they then went to the cashier and paid for it as they went to the car. As they came near it though, heard something as he looked to the side to see a group of teens pushing a boy into an abandon warehouse.

'Looks like the kid is in trouble. I am sure Faye would kick my ass if I just stand by, so…'

The man looked at the girl as he turned. "Rachel, stay in the car and don't open it for anyone. I will be right back. Oh, and make sure you don't let Bullet out of the car, okay?"

The girl understood as a small brown fox like animal sat on her lap. "Okay, daddy."

The man then proceeded to walk in to the warehouse, and was able to see five teens harassing another one. By the way it looks, it seems that the ones harassing the boy must be part of some up and coming gang, since they all had brown bandanas on their head and necks. The victim looks to be around 16, and pushed to a wall.

"Give me you damn money, asshole!" Said a gang member as he held a knife.

"But I don't have any money. Please stop."

"Don't lie to us, we saw you going to that ATM, we know you got some case. Now hand it over, or else."

'Geez, looks like these kids are serious about the whole gang thing. Too bad they chose to do it while I am around.'

With a small chuckle, the man walked forward as he spoke. "I think you kids should leave him alone. You really should spend your time in school then trying to be something that could get you killed."

The teens looked at the man as the one with the knife walked forward. "And who the hell are you?"

"Who me? Well I am nothing more but just a guy who don't like violence all that much. At least, not when it on something pointless, such as trying to be gangsters."

The gangsters started to get mad as they felt insulted by the man. "You best watch what you say, ya old basatard. Or else we will gut you like a fish."

"Old? Oh come on, I am not that old. Why I am 30, so I say that I don't deserve the title of being old. But seriously, if you guys really think that hurting me is going to change anything about that remark I made, then I am sad to say that you guys couldn't even hurt me if you tried."

"What?" said the teen with the knife as the man smiled a bit.

"Oh I am telling you the truth now. You guys can't hurt me because 1. I have more experience and skill. 2. I have seen and fought people who are even younger than you and would beat you all without even trying. And 3. I am afraid to tell you this, but just by looking at you, I am way out of your league. So with all of this, I say the smartest thing you all can do is to go away and leave the kid alone, ok?"

The teens ager began to rise as they charged at the man, who made a small sigh. 'Well I warned them'

The first teen had a pipe in hand and tried to bash it over the man's head, but missed as he was punched with a left hook, making him fall to the floor hard. Another one rushed it and tried to tackled the man, who saw it coming and raised a foot, kicking the teen in the air for a second before he hit the ground.

Seeing their friend hit the ground, two of the teens decided to work together and used the bats they brought to hit the man. they swung for his head, but missed as he ducked and rose up with a uppercut to one and a kick to another, knocking them out.

It was only him and the one with the knife left, who was starting to back away. He turned to try and use the boy for leverage, but the man grabbed his bandana and pulled him away. The teen tried to stab him, but his hand was grabbed as the man made him drop it by squeezing his palm.

"Come on man, let me go. It was all a joke, see we were just playing."

The man gave a disappointed look to the teen. "Really, all of the excuses you could have given to me, and you chose that? Man, I hope this generation isn't becoming more lazy in excuses. Well anyway, I can't just let you off the hook since your friends wasn't able to get off easy, so…"

The man raised a fist and hit him hard, knocking him out. He then looked at the boy as he walked to him. He helped him up to his feet and he lifted up his wallet that fell out of his pocket and gave it to him.

"You okay? Hope those punks didn't do anything to you before I made it here."

"No, they didn't had the chance to." Said the boy as he looked at the man. "Thank you, thank you very much. I just earned the money from my new job and I was really hoping to use it to help my mother with the bills un til these guys jumped me and-"

The man raised a hand as he looked at him. "Say no more, I got the idea. I kind of had the similar situation in my childhood. And since I understand how you feel, how about I help you out."

He went in to his wallet and pulled out five one hundred bills. He then gave it to the boy and turned to leave. "That should help you out with your problem. Don't worry about the money, I have more back home. Well bye."

The man walked away until the boy spoke out. "Wait, but can you at least tell me your name?"

The man turns and pointed to himself. "Sure. My name is James Artemis."

**(Later)**

James and his daughter Rachel and her pet Bullet walked through the door as his wife Faye greeted them.

"Hey you two, how was the store."

"It was great mommy. Daddy bought me a toy over at the store, and he saved a boy before we left."

"Oh really?" said Faye as she looked at James, who gave a sheepish smile.

"What can I say, when someone needs my help, I can't ignore them."

"I guess not. After all, that was always your best trait."

James sat on the couch with her as Rachel and Bullet left to her room. He then looked at his wife. "So how's Jacob. Anything happened while we were out?"

"No, nothing so far. He has been a sleep for a while."

"That's good. If he is anything like Rachel, he will most likely use it to try to crawl soon."

"Yeah you're right. After all, she did learn how to crawl rather fast did she?"

"Yeah she sure did."

The two began to watch some T.V a bit until it was 3PM. James got to his feet. "Well looks like it's time to go and meet up with Master hand and the others."

"Oh yeah, you're supposed to go and see all of the new comers that signed up for the tourney coming up next year, right?"

"That's right. Master Hand told me that he will have it next year since the battles that took place last time was too great to have yearly. He also said that I need to show up today to greet the rest of the Smashers and new comers as champion."

"By the way you're saying it; it sounds like you like the title of champion."

"Oh trust me, I don't, but I figure if I can get stronger by fighting new smashers, then there is no harm in it, no is there?"

Faye shook her head a bit as she looked at him with a small frown.

"But you don't need to get stronger. You beaten Graves, and that pretty much proves that you are at your best level. Besides, how strong do you have to become before you're ready to stop?"

The male Artemis was silent for a second as he looked at Faye. He then placed a hand on her shoulders and looked at her directly in the eyes.

"I don't want to lose you and Rachel again. Last time that happened, I wasn't strong enough to protect you. Now we have another child in our family, and I refuse to let the same thing happen again."

"But that won't happen again. Graves is gone, so why would it?"

"Just because he is gone, doesn't mean that all the evil that ever exist went along with him. I have the power to protect not only you, but everyone who is dear to me, so why shouldn't I allow myself to get better with it. You know deep down that I am right, just as I know that you still don't want me to do this. But the thing is: the choice is not ours to make. Noir gave his power in the hopes that I will use it for all the right reasons. Getting stronger will ensure that."

Faye kept her silence as she sighed and shrugged.

"Okay, I guess I can't stop you no matter how much I try anyway."

James made a small smile as he went to the closet and put on his new attire that he got on his birthday a few days ago.

The attire consist of black shoes with green little stripes on the side, dark blue pants that was black below the knees with a line on the sides reaching from the bottom to the top, and a dark green short sleeved shirt. Then there was a jacket that was black with large green wings on the back. There was also the image of swords with wings on the shoulders that was colored gold. There were also zippers on the sleeves.

He then grabbed his new weapons. Night Shooter, a silver gun with a black handle and a green tip on the top. As well as the Golden Dawn, a black metal sword that had a small red gem in the center. It also had faint yellow line in the back and front of the blade, as well as a red line in the middle from the base to the tip.

He placed the blade in the sheathe and put in on his back as he went out the door to the back.

"See you in a few hours."

"Alright. Be sure to say hi to Master Hand and Daniel for me."

"Sure."

He then shut the door and looked at his right arm.

The arm began to turn black with the mix of stone and metal and had green markings on it. His left eye also closed as a faint glow faded from it and his arm.

'Ah, back to my old self. This glamour thing really works, though. It sure as hell beats being seen with a black arm and one eye.'

The marking started to glow green as James opened his palm and sticked it out in front of him. Soon a ripple took place in the air, expanding to be big enough for a person to go through.

'Alright, took me about a day to get this down.'

With a small smirk, he walked through the portal, and found himself in the same lobby from six months ago. He looked around for a bit and felt a small feeling of excitement as he walked forward to see both the vets and the newcomers.

'Now let's see how everyone been doing since the last time we met.'

**I am SOOOO sorry for being late, and for the short chapter. Like I said I have been going through hoops today, so it was hard to find the time to do this. Anyway, I decided to make up for this by letting everyone send in one more OC if they want. Like I said, I will accept them all, so feel free to send them in. but this is only happing until chapter 2, so send them quick.**

**Later.**


	2. Returning to the field (Part 1)

**Yo fellas, I am back with Chapter 2. Any OC's that were sent will be in the story as I will stop accepting them once the third chapter is up. YES, YOU HEARD ME, THIRD CHAPTER! If you want to put them in, nows the time, because once the third chapter is up, I am shutting down the acceptations.. Now on to the story.**

**PS: This is going to be filled with OC's, so be on the lookout for yours.**

James looks around the area as he saw that it the same large area as before, being spacious enough to fit an army or two. He smiled as he remember the memories of being here 2 years ago,

"Man, feels like I never left."

James began to walk a bit as he looked around and saw some new faces, as well as some familiar ones.

He soon stopped as he saw Roy, the first smasher he fought in the tournament.

"Hey Roy!"

The sword user turned and saw his friend as he walked to him.

"Hello James. How's your son Jacob?

"Pretty well. Me and Faye have been taking good care of him."

"That's good. A lot of people back home have been wanting to go and see him. You won't believe how much August has talked about him from my world."

"Really?"

"Oh most definitely."

The two began to talk a little more until Pit saw the current champion. He flew to him, and spoke to him

"James, do you have a second?"

The man turned from Roy and looked at Pit. "Sure, do you want to talk or something?"

"Well yes, but it's not me that want to talk to you."

James raised a brow as he looked at the angel. "Really, then who?"

"That would be me."

Hearing a new voice, the current champion looked up to see a woman with very long green hair reaching down to her lower legs. She had a very elegant and regal with an outfit that looked to be a simple-looking white dress with numerous gold ornaments to accommodate it such as a gold laurel crown, red fibula, vine-like patterns on the hems of her dress, brown-colored footwear, and the various gold accessories.

She looked at James as Pit stood by her. James then spoke to the stranger.

"Hello. You must be Palutena. Pit has told me much about you."

The woman nodded as she greeted him. "Yes, that's me. I am honored to meet you, Mr. Artemis. Pit told me about how you won against Graves."

"He has?"

"Oh yes. I really must thank you too, since you did prevent him from having ultimate power. It will be an honor to participate in the same tournament with you next year."

"Like wise."

With that, Palutena turned and walked away with Pit, allowing James to continue looking around. As he did though, he heard the sound of running feet.

'No, it couldn't be..'

He turned just in time to fall as he felt something tackle him. He looked up as he looked at the person, who got up and bowed her head.

"I am sorry, terrible sorry; I was in a hurry to see a friend."

James got to his feet as he dust himself off. "It's okay. So who is the one you're supposed to meet."

The person put a finger to her chin as she looked up and thought. "Well, he is tall, wears mostly black with some gold on his jacket, carries a sword and gun, have a right black arm."

"…and is the champion of Smash Bros. right?" responded the adult with a smile as he looked at her. His eyes winded a bit as he recognized her.

She was 5'9 with pretty porcelain skin and astonishing violet eyes. Was lean and nimble, looking to be agile and quick. She was quite skinny and had an hourglass shape. Her hair reached to her being to her waist in a shade of light brown that was flowing. She wore a dark blue large cloak that had a silver chain connecting the front. Underneath the cloak, she seemed to be wearing a pale pink tank top as well as a dark blue miniskirt.

At first, he didn't knew she was, but her voice not only sounded familiar, but her eyes also reminded him of…

"Kimchi?"

The girl grinned as she nods. "Wow, you guessed right on the first try. Not even Joe was able to do that."

The Smash champion looked at her with surprise. It's been a long time since he last saw her on his birthday. After that, he hasn't seen her as much. He asked Master hand about her once and he told him that she was dealing with pressing matters back home. James wanted to see that he could help, but the hand told him that Kimchi wanted to try to solve this on her own for some reason. Since then he had seen her much.

Now that she is here though, the one eyed warrior had nothing much to say except.

"You've grown."

"Yeah, well that happens to ya eventually in life right? You look so surprised to see me though. Is it really that much of a shocker?"

"Well, no. It's just that the last time I saw you, you were still that 14 year old girl who was running around here is basketball shorts and was hyped up with energy."

Kimchi made a small smirk as she lightly hit on the arm, making him smile a bit. "I can't believe you still remember that."

"Hey, I'm sorry, but when you are one my friends, I never forget you. No matter how different you were back then when compared to now."

The girl smirk went in to a smile as she was ready to speak. Before she did though, a new voice came in.

"Karina, there you are."

The two looked to see someone else coming their way.

The person was female that was 5'7. She had pale skin as well and her hair was brown and wavy. She had the same violet eyes as Kimchi. She wore large, thick framed black glasses and looks to be young. She wore the same outfit as Kimchi but had on a white tank top, long blue skirt, and black combat boots.

Kimchi saw her and made a small frown. "Oh great, here she comes."

James looked at his friend as eh had no idea what she was talking about. "What's wrong? Do you know her?"

"Well it's impossible to say that you don't know your sister."

"Sister?" thought the adult as the girl made it to them. she then looked at Kimchi, having a small frown.

"Karina, you know we are supposed to stick together. Why did you run off?"

James raised a brow as he looked at Kimchi. "Karina? I thought you said your name was Kimilana back in the tourney two years ago?"

Kimchi , or at least that what he thought her name was, looked at him with a sheepish smile. "Well you see, my name back home is Karina, and it's a funny story how I got the name Kimilina, and-"

However before she could finish, her sister interrupted as she looked at James. "Oh, hello sir. Um, who are you?"

Just then, Kimchi/Karina looked at her sister as she remembered why she brought her. "Oh, that's right, I didn't introduce you to him, have I? Well Eliza, this is my friend, James Artemis."

The girl, now known as Eliza, looked up at James as she put a hand to her month. "Oh, you mean he's.."

"Yeah, that's right. This is the same person who beaten Graves, and became champion."

Just then, Eliza bowed her head, surprising James.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Artemis. Thank you very much for protecting my sister. My family and I, as well as our kingdom, are in your debt."

Seeing her giving her thanks, James made a sheepish smile as he spoke. "I didn't do much. Your sister was able to take of herself quite well. You really don't need to thank me."

"Nonsense. You fought and defeated a mad man that tried to become a god, and in process, saved my sister, the smashers, and practically everyone that stood in his way. As far as I am concerned, you are the true representation of a warrior and protector."

The Smash champion stood silent as he couldn't think of what to say, Eliza's sister spoke for him though, as she tried to get her to come with her.

"Okay, I think that's enough. Come on Eliza, there are many other people here that you should meet."

Eliza made her stop as she looked at her with a small frown. "Alright, alright. Just don't push me."

With that she left, just as James spoke up as he asked his friend a question.

"So what do I call you now? Do I stick with Kimchi, or do I use Karina?"

"Just call me what you always been calling me. Besides, having you call me Karina seems to feel odd."

"Okay then, well I should go and see the rest of the smashers. Later Kimchi."

"Ditto."

The two separated as James continued to see the rest of the newcomers. Once he made his way near the beginning a hallway, he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey James, over here!"

He turned to see who spoke, and smiled as he saw a tall night elf of 6'7, glowing blue eyes that over flow with energy and glow in the dark, long snow-white hair, strong athletic build. He wore a black T with a skull on the shirt, dark blue pants with shin guards and dark armor boots. Skull gauntlets and Skull belt with a dark blue coat that went to his knees and a black pauldrin on his right shoulder.

"Meta, it's good to see you."

The night elf chuckled a bit as he shook his hand. "Yeah, same to you. It's nice to see you decided to come over here to check out the new comers."

"Well I have to. It's best to know the completion before the tourney starts next year. But what about you? I thought you said you might not show up because you have pressing matters?"

Meta scratched the back of his head and gave a sheepish smile. "Well yeah, but I decided to come here so I can catch up with you. There is also someone here who wants to meet you."

James was ready to ask who until he noticed a girl behind Meta.

She had to be a teen, having a medium stature of 5'7, pointed ears and blue eyes. Fair skin and snow white hair that was put in a ponytail. She wore dark gold gauntlets with dark yellow shirt and jean skirts, and a studded belt with dark gold plated boots.

Meta made a small grin as he began to speak. "James meet Ella Karshale, my daughter."

The Smash champion looked at the elf with a raised brow. "Your daughter? You never told me you were a father."

"Well I had no idea about it until 2 years ago, shortly after Graves died. She showed me a picture that I took with her mother when she was born, and we've been together since."

James was silent as he took in what Meta said. Once it did, he looked at Ella and made a smile.

"Hello Ella, It's a pleasure to meet you."

She nodded and responded with a kind voice. "The same to you . I have heard a lot about you and your exploits way before you met my father, but I never thought that you would join in the Smash tournament that took place two years ago until I saw it displayed back home."

"Oh, so you saw that huh? Well I wasn't planning on winning it, so it was just by dumb luck that I became champion."

"Absolutely not." Retorted Ella with confidence. "I was able to gauge your abilities during the tournament, as well as taken in your experience, skills, and strengths, and can fully say that your chances of winning the tournament if it went fairly were a good 75%."

Taken aback by her calculations, James felt a little embarrassed as she continued.

"However that would be if you didn't access that power of Noir. If you did, there would no doubt that the tournament would have been yours. I must say though, Graves really did push you to your limits in that final battle. It was nothing but awe inspiring when you stood against his attacks and kept your ground. You sir, are the sole representation of what every warrior strives to be, just ask my father to prove it."

Meta made a small sweat drop as he looked at his daughter. "Okay, Ella, I think that's enough about that."

James smiled as he saw his friend talk to his daughter, and was happy for Meta being able to spend time with her. But what she said made him felt a little nervous on the inside.

'An inspiration for warriors? She must be flattering me. I never strive to be some symbol for people to follow, nor have I tried to be a role model for those who aspire to be great. All I did was fought against Graves, and take my vengeance on him, which is something that I don't think is inspiring at all.'

His thoughts were beginning to grow as he remembered the battle with his foe. Graves was no easy opponent, sure, but it wasn't like he had a choice weather or not to fight. He was able to win because he was fighting for those he loved and care for, so there was no way he was willing to accept defeat. Surely anyone would be able to do the same in a similar situation, right?

He soon put's it off however as he notice Ella looking at him, ready to speak.

"By the way, I have been mighty curious about that arm of yours. May you let me see it?"

"Sure."

The Smash champion stretched out his arm as Ella held it. She looked at the markings that were on it, nearly showing a gleeful grin.

"This is amazing. The texture of the arm feels as if its metal yet is flexible like that of a real normal arm. I can even feel the power just softly radiating from it, as if it's breathing on its own. Can you tell me the abilities that you can do with it?"

"Gladly. The arm allows me to do many powers, and have only increased since I met Noir. It can charge or empower weapons that are within its hand, making them stronger and durable."

"Is that why you hold your blade with your left hand? To avoid powering it up all the time?" said Meta with curious tone.

"Yes. I mostly use it only when necessary, however I can choose whether to power it up or not when I have it in the hand, so I won't do it by accident. The arm can also be used to form weapons, or store them."

"Wait, it can form weapons?" Asked Ella with a raised brow. James nodded to her question.

"I can make a energy base weapon from the arm, but I never really use it. I only used it once or twice to dual wield with my sword, but I never really gotten used to it. As for the storing part, it is the reason on how I was able to use the Ebony Bow most of the time, because the arm can turn objects in it's had in to energy that is stored in my hand, so that I can use them for later."

Meta's daughter nodded to this and asked another question. "What about that figure that appears behind you. The one that showed up during your signature move against Daniel, and attacked Graves in your final battle?"

"Oh that? That was Noir's spirit."

"His spirit?" responded the teen. James nodded to confirm it for her as he began to explain.

"That's right. You see, when I first had the arm, I was able to summon only a fragment on his soul to assist me in battle. It wasn't able to do much, but it did help me with empowering my Knuckle Buster. Once I met Noir though, I was able to access its true power, allowing me to summon his soul to defend, attack, or even manipulate the field. It's basically like having your own shadow helping you in the fight."

"Amazing. The ability to summon the soul of a divine to fight by your side sound completely fantastic. What about Graves though? I heard about the abilities that he was able to do with the Fallen Grace, but I never had a clear def-"

Before she could continue, Meta spoke up as he wanted to avoid that subject. "Well I think that is something to be mention for another time. Besides, James needs to continue to go and meet up with the new comers, so let give him his time, Ella."

His daughter sighed softly as she agreed. "Okay, I guess you're right. Goodbye, . Till next time."

He waved them off as they left, and continued his way down the hall.

After a few minutes, he was in a larger area, and saw a large number of people there talking.

'It's nice to see that a lot of newcomers are here. Guess they all are excited to win this thing when it starts. Maybe I can meet up with them after I see Master Hand.'

James turned to his left and began to head towards the hallway that leads to Master Hand's office. Right when he was ready to leave though….

"YOU PERVERTED JERK!"

***SLAP***

The Smash Champion stopped in his tracks as he took a deep breath.

'There is only one person I know who can make a girl say that.'

He turned back and gave a small frown to what he saw.

In front of him was a man that had brown short hair and wore black sunglasses. He had tanned skin, and looked to be in his mid-30's, wearing brown cowboy boots, blue jeans, a black t-shirt that had flames on the bottom front of it, a brown bomber jacket with the words 'Wild Fury' on the back, and a pair of dog tags around his neck. He also had a metal left arm that looked to be made of a rather strong metal like substance.

The man lay on the floor with a red hand print on his cheek, which must have been extremely painful because James could see a few broken teeth on the ground.

He slowly shook his head as he gave him a hand. "Still trying to chase young women I see? You never change Joe."

The man, now known as Joe, looked at him and made a smirk before grabbing the hand. He soon got to his feet as he caresses his red cheek. "Why the hell should I? It's not like I was doing anything wrong. The girl was 20, tops."

"Have it ever dawned on you that maybe the women here might not like you that much?"

The brown haired man gave his friend a confused glare as the hand print slowly vanished thanks to his healing nanites. "Huh, what are you talking about? The chicks here dig me."

"I don't think they dig a man that is old enough to be a father going around trying to hit on girls half his age. You should have taken all of the beatings from last time as a sign to change your ways."

"Ah come on James, they are just acting like that because they don't know me." Joe then gave a small smirk that James saw as a perverted shit eating grin. "But once they see my good side, they will want to."

'Dear god, there is just some things that never change.' Thought James as he shook his head once more.

"So who was it that slapped you this time? Zelda? Peach? Please don't tell me that it was Samus, because you know she still want to get you after what you did Captain Falcon."

"For the last time, it was an accident. I didn't know that he was helping her with her ship. I thought he was going to try and put the moves on her. I was doing it for Ike."

James gave a little sighed as he once again tried to explain to him his mistake. "Okay, 1. Ike and Samus business are their own. Just because they had to split to go their respective homes, doesn't mean that you can just go and get involve. 2. You know that is a damn lie because you have been trying to hit on Samus for the last two years. Hell it was a nightmare when you were able to get a strand of her hair to make your personal Samus clones and had them work as maids."

"Which would have been grate if you and Daniel kept your mouth shut about how the original one hated my guts." Whispered Joe.

"I heard that, and may I remind you that it was better than telling her what you did? You should be lucky that you had over twenty Samus's trying to hurt then one trying to kill you. And besides, Master Hand told you that they would only last for a week, so you shouldn't whine."

"But-"

"No buts! And finally 3. You freaking attacked Captain Falcon with your truck! How the hell was that an accident?"

"I thought he would do a Falcon Punch on it."

"Not if you hit him from the back!"

Joe rolled his eyes as he still remembers the beating he got from Samus that day. The things she did with that blaster, not even Ike would be able to see without cringing in fear.

"But I helped didn't I? I mean I did take his spot in his race after all."

James places a hand on his head as he remembers that day. "Don't remind me. I still remember how Falcon was screaming through the T.V. when he saw that you took his costume and vehicle and went on the race. That is a day that I will never forget."

"But I won."

"Yeah, after you nearly totaled the Blue Falcon. Captain Falcon almost had a heart attack after you did that. But enough about that just tell who slapped you."

"Well you see-"

"THERE YOU ARE!"

The two men looked up to see two girls standing in front of them.

One was very short, only being around 5'0. She looks like she's small and fragile, like a little kid, really. She was thin and not muscular and had short cute styled anime white hair and bright blue eyes. She had a black cape with a silver crescent on it, a black eye patch with silver skull and crossbones. Underneath her cape, she wore a black tank top and black skirt. They are hemmed with white, though. She also had black dress shoes.

The other girl was 5'7, looking to be more mature. She had wavy pink hair that reaches her waist and violet eyes. Her skin tone was pale with a pinkish touch. She wore a fancy shirt with a skirt. She also had a purple cape with a pink heart on it and khaki combat boots with tights.

The shorter of the two raised a finger towards Joe, having a glare on her face. "You perverted swine, how dare you try to hit on my sister."

James put two and two together and looked at Joe with a disappointing look. "Joe, you didn't."

"What?! Look at her for crying out loud, she looks to be twenty."

Hearing this, the girl who spoke before responded. "You idiot, she is 19!"

Bothe men nearly fell to the feet from the news as Joe tried to figure out Joe to get out of this.

"But she looks so much older, that I thought she was an adult. It's not my fault that your older sister looks so mature."

Joe must have said the wrong words, because the girl nearly grew a tick mark of anger as she glare at him with fury,

"You damn fool, I'M the older sister! I'm 22!"

Joe face showed utter confusion as he looked at the girl then to her sister. "But, you look so much like a Baby Doll."

James almost face palmed himself as he realized that Joe had dug his grave another six feet. The girl face almost turned red as she reared back her hand.

"YOU….JERK!"

She hit him with another slap, strong enough to send him to a wall and pass. James looked at the hole and saw that he wouldn't be getting up soon.

'Man, Joe just can't get a break with woman, can he?'

He turned his attention to the girls and gave a small bow. "I am very sorry for that. Joe isn't what I call a normal person when it comes to the opposite sex."

The girl looked at him as made a small smile as she nodded. "It's okay; you don't need to apologize for him. To be honest I think he was going to get slapped by any female around here."

The Smash Champion grinned and extended his right hand. "Your right. My name is James by the way, James Artemis."

As soon as he said his name, the tall one showed a wide smiled as she looked at his sister.

"Luna, it's him. He's the one I wanted to meet."

The other Sister, who is now known as Luna, nodded as she responded to James.

"It's an honor to meet you, sir. My name is Lunelle Spirithave, and this is my sister, Aurora Spirithave."

Aurora, who was excited to see James, shook his hand happily.

"It's wonderful to meet you Sir. I am a big fan of yours."

James was taken aback a bit from this as he looked at her. "Huh, really?"

"Yeah. I heard so much about your fight with Graves, and of how you were able to save everyone from him. A lot of people were so inspired by you that most of the people there have decided to train and become great warriors. Even my foster mother heard of you, and demanded that I come see you right away."

'Her mother made her come here? Geez, I would have never thought that my actions would spread so far.'

Placing the thoughts aside, James began to speak to Aurora. "Well thanks for telling me that. But I really don't think I am all that special. I only won because I had something to fight for. Either way though, it is great to meet you."

"The same to you. I hope I get to fight you at the finals before I go. Until then, me and my sister will be training in the wreck room, so bye."

The two then left as James raised a brow. 'Finals? The tournament is next year, so what did she mean by that?'

Shaking it off, he heads to where Joe was hit to, and tried to see if he was alright.

When he got there, he saw another person helping him up. It was a boy that was mid-height, Caucasian-skinned, had a medium build with different colored eyes as the left was blue and the right was red and had hair of a light shade of purple slightly spiked growing upwards. He wore pale shorts, blue and white sneakers along with a green shirt with a preying mantis on it. His most prominent feature was his blue spider necklace with a red mark on its back.

He helped Joe on his feet, who looked at him with a face of un-satisfaction. "What, first you beat me, and now you want to make me look weak too?"

"Hey, it's not my fault you lost." Said the boy. "If you were to take me seriously then you would have won."

"Oh quiet, you freaking beetleborg."

"I am NOT a beetleborg!"

"Yes you are. Hell even James will agree with me, right James?"

Joe expected an answer from his friend, but he didn't give him the one he wanted.

"Uh…exactly what are you talking about? I just got here at least ten minutes ago, so I have no idea how he is related to a beetleborg."

"What really? Man, you freaking-"

"Wait, you're James Artemis, as in the champion?" asked the boy.

"Yeah, that's me."

The boy then shook his hand as he introduced himself. "My name is Mantis. I am one of the first fighters that won in their rounds so far. Unfortunately, my first opponent was this guy here, and he has been whining about it since."

"I am not whining about anything. And besides, I let you win."

"Yeah, right." Said Mantis as he gave him a unamused expression. He then turned back to James. "I will be heading to the wreck room to train for the next fight. See at the finals when I win."

Mantis then left him as James looked at Joe.

"Why is everyone talking about the tournament? I thought it was being held next year?"

"It is. Today is just the start of the ceremony, remember?"

"Ceremony? What ceremony?"

"The one that Master Hand had spent all year getting ready. You mean to tell me that he never told you?"

"No, not all."

Hearing this, Joe scratched the back of his head as he was confused. "Why would he not tell you? You're the champion, you have to know."

James shrugged as he began to walk to Master Hand's office. "I don't know, but I am going to find out."

"Hey wait up, I am coming along to."

The two walked through the next hall way until they reached Master Hand's office. They opened the door, and saw the large hand sitting (or floating since he have no rear to sit on) on a chair near his desk. There was also another person standing near him that James knew right away.

The person was a man and looked to be in his early twenties, having short ash gray hair, standing 6 foot 1, and having a well-built figure. He wore steel-toe combat boots, dark blue pants, a brown belt that had a holster for his gun, a black trench coat, a sheath that held his claymore, a white muscle shirt, and a necklace that had what like to be three sakura petals formed together by the tips.

"Daniel, it's great to see you." Said James as he gave his hand shake. "How are things with August? It's been a while since you two got in engaged that I half expecting you to have the wedding already."

Daniel smirked a bit as he was amused by the joke. "Don't worry, it's coming. August just still need to get use to the reality of it. She gets flustered and shy every time when someone even mentions it."

"Guess that happens when you are engaged to someone who can turn in to a humongous steel beast of terror. Seriously, how the hell did you get her as a future wife?" Said Joe with a bit of jealousy.

Daniel looked at him with a non-emotional look as he answered. "Well it helps when you're not someone who harass every girl he sees, thinks he's the king of the world, and is crazy enough to not only clone one of the best Smashers in history, but to also beat and total one of their vehicle."

"WHY THE HELL WON'T ANYONE LET THAT GO!?"

Daniel and James had to hold back a laugh from hearing that. Once it faded away, James looked at Master hand.

"Ah, it's great to see that you could make it James. The place wouldn't be the same without you."

"It's great to be back, Master Hand. But I have a question."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Why is everyone talking about a tournament? I thought it was next year. And what about this Ceremony I am hearing about."

After saying this, James noticed that both Daniel and Master Hand were silent for a bit. He felt a little uncomfortable because of their silence, but soon the giant hand spoke.

"Well, you see, a year ago I decided to hold something of a Mock Tourney battle, where fighters can join in and test their skills against others in a way to train for the next year tournament."

"Okay, well that sounds good. And the prize?"

"Well that's the thing: there isn't much of a prize except some money and one other thing."

Felling impatient from waiting, James was ready to ask again until Master Hand broke it to him.

"The chance to face off against you."

"WHAT!?"

**Alright that's it for today. This is PART ONE of the beginning, so I am going have to show the rest of the OC's in different parts. I am sorry for the wait guys, but I didn't expect all of the OC's to show up. Regardless, they will be in the story, so if you send on, they are accepted as of now. So with that, good night, and see you In the next chapter.**


	3. Returning to the field (Part 2)

**I am back guys, and I am ready to write the next Chapter.**

**PS: I saw the trailer for the Mike Tyson Mysteries cartoon show. If you haven't seen it, then do so on your own risk. All I can say about it is this: This will most likely be the next WTF cartoon show because I am going have to be drunk to even find it funny.**

**Oh shit, that's right I forgot: I DO NOT own several of the OC'S that are here or the main smashers that are in Smash Bros. I only own James, Joe, and a few other within this story, and yes I said STORY not chapter! **

"What do you mean they get to fight me? I thought they would have to wait till the tourney next year?" said a surprised James, as Master Hand began to explain further.

"Well that was the plan, at first. But shortly after Graves were defeated, applications for the next tourney just came rushing in, and after reading them the only thing that kept popping up was 'I want to fight James.' or 'I want to take on the new champion.' I was confused on why they wanted to take you on, but then it hit me: You are technically the first real champion that is not a hidden in the dark, or even have any cruel intentions, and shown to bring a brand new challenge in the Smash tournament. James, you are basically a brand new shade of light in this whole thing. For years many people had to fight me, and they were pretty much getting used to it. Then Tabuu came along and screw everything up. But once you was shown beating Graves, something in the audience just woke up. What they saw in you wasn't just some normal fighters or smasher, but was a warrior that had the knowledge, the skills, and the honor of a champion. You are, in the eyes of the people and the smashers here, the full representation of what a Smash champion should be. And because of that, everyone, veteran or new comer, grew the desire to fight you."

The Smash champion was silent for a bit as he couldn't really believe what he said. He knew that there were some people that thought great of him, but he never thought that they would see him as something like this.

"Well why didn't you tell me anyway? I don't have a problem with it, but I could have doubled my training to get ready."

"Oh I tried," started Master Hand. "But when I began the set up about a year ago, there were so much work that had to be done towards fixing the area and getting more participants that I forgotten all about it. By the time I realized that I never told you I pretty much said 'screw it' and surprise you."

'Well its one hell of a surprise all right.' Thought the champion. James then turned his head to look at Daniel.

"So I take it that you are entering?"

Daniel smirked and shook his head. "Nah, I think I will just hang back on this one. Besides, I promise August that I wouldn't get myself in any trouble with the newcomers, and since this is a tourney, entering might not be the best thing to do if I want to avoid conflict. Besides, I have a certain job that needs my attention elsewhere, so I am afraid"

Once he was done saying, Daniel saw that Joe was nodding his head. "Aw…so basically she already put you in the dog house and made you get a job, huh buddy?"

"No Joe, I am not in the dog house, and I was not forced to get a job. Why don't you do something else besides messing with me, like getting smacked around by Samus again?"

Joe scoffed a little as he turned his head. James made a small grin at this as he recalls some old memories of things similar to this before heading out the door. "Well I am off to wreck room to see how the others are going. I will say hi to August if I see her."

His friend nodded as he left, but was followed by Joe as he went along.

"So James, did you saw that green haired chick that came here with Pit?"

"You mean Palutena?"

"Who?"

James stopped as he looked at his somewhat dim witted friend. "Palutena, Pit's ally and mother figure. You know, the 'green hair chick'?" He responded, repeating Joe's description.

The names dawned on Joe as he nodded. "Oh yeah that's the one. You know, she is pretty hot, not on Samus level since she isn't wearing a tight suit and all, but hot none the less. Why if I play my cards right, I could end up with Paleteina."

"It's Palutena." Corrected James.

"Palutina?"

"No, Palutena!"

"Palutora?"

"Are you even trying?" Asked the champion with annoyance in his voice. As he did, he saw Palutena walking by behind Joe, and saw how Joe was having a hard time with her name.

She was ready to spell it out, but Joe spoke first, still unaware of her being behind him.

"You know it doesn't matter. Her name could be pussy foot for I care. Besides, with a body and look like that, I think I would just be looking at her more than listening to her….as well as having some 'impure thoughts' right buddy?"

The former marine elbowed James arms with a shit eating grin, thinking that he could get James to laugh.

But James didn't laugh, as he softly face palmed himself, as if in disgust.

"Joe…just turn around for me. Okay?"

'Jeez what crawled up his ass?' Thought Joe as he turned, only to come face to face with an angry looking Pit and Palutena.

"So…you don't care what I say or even what my name is, huh?" asked the green haired woman as she gave him a glare.

Joe took a step back as he felt a bit of fear in him. "Uh, James, how about you help me out here buddy?"

However James was not there as he looked around and saw that he was gone.

"James!" he yelled before Palutena attacked him.

Elsewhere…

"Man, I guess I went overboard with the water bottles back home." Said James as he walked out of the bathroom. He heard a few scream and bashes nearby, only to keep walking. 'Ah, he will be alright. Besides, with his healing factor, I doubt that he will die from her attacks.'

With a bit of a smirk he turned and continued his way to the wreck room. Once he was near the door, he was ready to enter but stopped as someone spoke up behind him.

"James?"

He turned to see a familiar face as it was August. She looked to be the same as two years ago, with the same porcelain skin and violet eyes that seem to be a dark shade. She was still delicate, looking to be made of china. Her hair was blackish-brown and run down to her mid-back and was still short around 5 feet. She wore a pink dress with thick straps, from the bottom up, there was a branch curling up, and sakura blossoms were dappled across. Around her waist was a large brown bow. She also had a pink laced umbrella and a lei of flowers on her head.

"August, it great to see you."

She woman gave a happy gestured as she replied. "It's great to see you too, James. How have you been?"

"I have been doing very well actually. What about you. I just met Daniel a while ago and he told me that you get rather shy every time when someone mention about your relationship. Is that true?"

As soon as he said this, August face got a little red as she looked down for a bit, as if trying to avoid his gaze.

'I take that as a yes.' He thought as the violet eyed woman looked up back at him.

"Well unfortunately yes. It's not like I am embarrassed or ashamed of it, but it's just that every time someone brings it up, I just think back to Daniel and the engagement and his confession, and…and…"

Just then James raised a hand to stop her.

"Okay, I understand, your still trying to get used to it. I know how much of a bomb shell getting in a relationship with somebody is, so I guess how you are taking it is pretty normal."

"Yeah I guess you're right. But it's still a lot to take in."

"I know, but you just have to get used to it one step at a time. Trust me, as time moves on, things like this becomes easier and easier to get use to."

He saw the she was beginning to understand and began to open the door. "I am about to head in to the wreck room to meet the rest of the newcomers. You want to join me?"

August nodded her head as she followed him in to the room and stepped on the same tablets that were there two years ago.

Once that was done, they found themselves a large arena that was vast with other sections for people to fight in, and even make a mini stage of different obstacles to fight in.

'Man, I guess Master Hand went all out on the training areas.'

The two looked around to see if any more familiar faces were there, and August was the first to find a pair.

"Hey look. It's Sam and Rage."

James turned to where she pointed and saw that she was indeed right about who was there.

Rage was a red hedgehog with emerald green eyes and quills. He wore a dark grey jacket that was unzipped with two red stripes centered on it that loops around. A dark green shirt with a black "R" on it. A pair of gloves that showed his red fingers on all but his thumb, two golden Rings, a leather belt with many small pouches and a larger one with an emerald sown on to it, dark navy blue pants, and dark red shoes with a single horizontal black strip.

Sam was also a black hedgehog, but was black with a crystal stone tied to a leather strap which is wrapped around his neck. He had a medium build that was toned from fighting and training and had fiery red eyes. He wore a pair of dress shoes with jeans and a black, white, green etc. dress shirt and cheap black sunglasses hanging by the collar or worn on his head when not in use. He also wore jeans with boots and a worn leather jacket passed down from his father.

James and August made their way to them as they saw the hedgehogs talking to one another. When they saw them, they stopped talking and greeted them.

"James, long time no see." Said Rage as he and Sam made their way to them.

"Likewise Rage. Nice to see that you are here with the others. Same to you Sam."

The black hedgehog smirked to show that he felt the same way. The reunion of the four didn't last long though as a new character walked by.

The character in question was a rather tall person, standing to be around 7 feet and 6 inches, and looked to be 300 pounds with an athletic build. He wore what looked to be an Olive Drab colored armor that had different weapons, such as rifles, grenades, and other items while wearing a unique helmet with a Onyx Black visor.

"So you're the champ, huh?" the character asked, who sounded to be a man, with curiosity to James, who responded.

"Yeah that's me." He extended a hand to him to say hello. "James Artemis, nice to meet you."

The new character took the hand and shook it. "Names Wayne Norton, AKA: Spartan-II."

"Spartan? Like the ones back in ancient Greece?"

"Yeah that's the one. Me and my allies are named after them, and I am numbered as 2nd. I heard about this tourney and this ass hole called Graves, I came here to see the guy who beat him. But after looking at you, I got to say, you don't look like much. Guess every over exaggerated about the guy and this tournament if you're the Champion."

Wayne chuckled a bit as August spoke up in a bit of anger. "Hey, Graves was not a laughing matter. He almost killed us and destroyed our homes. Many of us have the scars to prove that, and if it wasn't for James, not only would we not be here, but you wouldn't either."

"Yeah right. All I need is a Spartan Laser and it's a done deal. Hell even the Convenient would beat him, just send in one Hunter and its game over. But I am not here to talk about some dead man, I wanted to see the champ and now that I have, I think I am disappointed. Hell I don't even know why we are having a tourney to fight you; I can beat you in a second."

James eyed Wayne, taken a back a bit by how brash and confident he is. 'This guy is a smartass. Hell I think he might be related to Joe.'

"Well Wayne, to be fair, I didn't know about this tourney until today. But if you really want to take me on, then I will be happy to give you a brawl."

If they could see his face, the Smasher would have seen that Wayne was smirking. "Now we're talking!"

The armored man began to reach for his rifle but was stopped when a familiar voice shouted.

"DON'T YOU DARE, ROOKIE!"

They turn to the voice to see two people. One was a female that had pretty brown hair that was in two corkscrew pigtails and reached a bit below the shoulders. The bottoms of the hair were also blonde. Her eyes were wide and yellow in the middle, but get a violet shade on the outside. Her skin was tan and had on knight chess piece earring on her left ear, and a Leo the Lion key in the form of a necklace. She wore a leather jacket with a baggy white t-shirt and casual dark skinny jeans.

Next to her was a male, who had the same eyes similar to the girl and he same brown hair that was spiked up near the forehead and is boy-short. He was shorter than the girl and had tannish, smooth skin with a large scar that ran across his left cheek. He wore a fancyish black V-neck t-shirt and casual black skinny jeans. He also had a Leather jacket as well, and a cross necklace.

The two that stood before them was none other than Ally and Ethan Chrome.

"Ethan, Ally, it's great to see you." Said August as she went to the two. Ally saw her and smiled.

"The same to you August. It's nice to see some old friends again."

"Yeah I-"

"Excuse me." Said Ethan as he cut off August and walked by her, heading straight for Wayne.

"You have some nerve to try and challenge James, you know that rookie?"

"Rookie? Kid I am older and more experienced than you. If anything you are the rookie."

"Oh yeah, have you ever been in Smash before?"

"Well no but-"

"Then congratulations, smartass, you are officially a rookie. And as such, you have to follow the rules and EARN the right to fight the champion. But that won't matter anyway, because at the end of it all, I will be the one that fights him."

Wayne shook his head as he ignored him. "Like you will be able to win. And besides, it's not like James will be strong anyway. I bet my money that I can beat him in a second flat."

"Ha, in your dreams. James would beat you without even breaking a sweat. Hell I bet I can beat you with an arm tied behind my back. Besides, you're a soldier right? Shouldn't you be off somewhere, getting shot at and tea bagged somewhere?"

"Oh yeah, well shouldn't you be losing a race somewhere, ya punk?"

The two stared at one another as James noticed something. He walked up to Ethan and tapped his shoulder.

"Hey Ethan."

"Huh, yeah James?"

"You should take a few steps to the left."

Confused at the request, Ethan did what he said and saw a quick blur going by him, hitting Wayne as he fell to the floor.

The blur turned out to be a girl that had pretty golden with porcelain skin. Her hair was long and light brown, reaching to her mid back. She wore a short yellow sundress with yellow flip flops and a yellow carnation in her hair.

James knew this persona immediately. 'Well where ever Ethan goes, Dianna will always follow.'

The girl, now known as Dianna, had her eyes closed as she hugged Wayne.

"Oh Ethan, I finally found you! Don't try to escape me again."

Rage, Ally, and August began to snicker as Sam and James stayed silent. Ethan began to get annoyed as he yelled out.

"Dianna! That's not me!"

The girl opened her eyes and looked at the one she thought she was hugging.

"Wait, if you're there, then who's this?"

She looked back to come face to face with Wayne.

"Hello, beautiful."

After saying that, Diana slapped him, but only hurt her and a bit as the helmet protected his face. She got to her feet and went towards Ethan, who raised is hand to stopped her.

"Diana, I told you that I would be back once the tourney is over, why the hell didn't you stay back home."

"Simple silly: I am in the tourney too. I even won my match."

Ethan sighed as he knew that Diana would now be more than likely to stay close to him like glue. Soon his eyes lit up as he looked at James. "Oh by the way, how's Jacob doing?"

"He's just fine. Faye and I have been taking good care of him, and Rachel is being a great older sister."

The boy nodded as he was happy with the news, but frowned when Diana began to speak as she put her hands together and put them near her chest.

"Oh, Jacob is so cute, I can't wait until me and Ethan get married and have kids of our own. You must feel the same way with Daniel, right August?"

'Damn it, no!' tought James as he saw August blushing madly before fainting. Luckly he was able to caught her before she hit the ground.

"Damn it, Diana. Why you had to say that? You know she is nervous!" said Ally as Rage fanned August while Sam tried to wake her up.

"I'm sorry, I forgot." She said with a sheepish grin as Ethan shook his head.

"Sorry James, we will catch up later. Looks like me and Ally are going have to keep an eye on Diana. Don't want people like Joe to come around and hit on her only for her to attack them."

The champion nodded as the three left, thus leading to Sam asking a question.

"Hey where is Joe anyway?"

"Oh, he is busy with a newcomer that showed up here."

Rage rolled his eyes as he had a feeling on something.

"Let me guess: A hot girl."

"What else?"

The two laughed a bit as August soon woke up.

"Uh, what happened?"

"Nothing, just Diana saying something that she shouldn't have said." Responded Sam. August looked at him for a bit and soon remembered.

"Oh. I need to get used to this."

The others smiled as James decided to head out.

"I will be looking for more newcomers to talk to. See you guys later ok."

The three nodded as James left. Once he did though, Wayne got to his feet and looked at Sam.

"Huh, first aliens, then flood, and now a furry humanoid animal. What next, an electric rat?"

Sam looked at him with a uninterested expression. "Well nice to see you are up too. And yes, there is an electrical rat in the tourney. Now how about you go off and start training for your bout, I have some old friends to see."

With that Sam left, leaving Wayne alone.

"Damn hedgehog being the boss of me. Just who the hell he thinks he is?"

Back with James, the champion made his way to a farther area of the wreck room and saw what looked to be a bout between two smashers.

One was a female that stood at about five foot, eleven inches with well-tanned skin and a slim, slightly muscular build. She had dark red hair that was kept in a ponytail that reaches down to her waist and jade colored eyes. She wore two steel gloves with a white tank top, dark grey workout pants, and black combat boots. She also had a bandage over her nose and a loosely fitting golden champion's belt with a purple crystal in the center around her waist.

The other was a man that was 5'7", had an average, slightly slender build, White/Light silver hair that covers right eye, cyan-blue eyes, and extended canines. He wore a White, unzipped, short-sleeved jacket with cyan highlights, blue jeans, silver-colored shoes, white t-shirt with a cyan "B" on the front, and an orange wrist band on right arm.

The two were sparring until the girl looked over and saw James. Once she did she stopped the match and spoke out to him.

"James, it's great to see you again."

"You too, Roxie. How's things back home? "

"Oh it's been well. I am glad to see that you came by in the wreck room. I was beginning to think that you would never show up."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't want to miss this for the world. Anyway, who's the guy you were fighting?"

He looked at the newcomer, who made his way to him.

"My name is Blast. It's great to meet you."

"Likewise. You have some good moves there. Been practicing a lot."

"Definitely. I have wanted to join the tourney for a while and since this Mock tournament is here, I decided that now was my best chance to enter."

The Smash Champion smiled, happy to see that the mock tourney attracted a lot of people. He was ready to speak up again until someone talked.

"James is that you?"

He turned to see yet another familiar face as it was a girl that had brownish-blonde hair that was curly, like the type of curls rich girls have and reach a little bit below the shoulders. Her eyes were emerald green and was pretty large. She was kind of short and skinny, and wore a short knee dress.

James remembered her easily and was surprised to see how she changed. 'It funny to see how much kids can change in just two years.'

"Ellie? Wow, you've grown."

The girl made a small grin as she responded. "Oh no I haven't. I just got a little taller is all."

"That what you say, but I can tell you matured a bit too just by looking. Guess I am getting older more and more by the day if I keep think of you and Kimchi as 14 year olds every time I look at this place."

Ellie was quiet as she felt a little nostalgic on the memories of two years ago. She then saw Roxie and walked to her.

"Hello Roxie. Taking on the newcomers I see."

"Yeah, I just want to get in some practice. You can join in if you want."

"Ah no, I shouldn't. I just got done trying to calm down Palutena not a few minutes ago."

"Palutena?" said Blast as the name sound familiar. "Isn't that the woman who came here with Pit?"

Ellie nodded as James knew what she was getting at.

"So how was Joe? Did he survive?"

She looked at him for a second and was going to ask on how he knew, but remembered that most of the time Joe gets hurt, James is always there.

"He'll live, but Palutena was very upset with him. Me and Pit spent almost half an hour trying to stop her from hurting him anymore, but she had the tenacity of an enraged bull when she is upset. I almost thought that she was going to start using me and pit to hit him with when she was attacking him."

'Well, judging all of the time Joe had pissed someone off, I wouldn't put it passed her if she want to attack him.'

"So how about you James, have you and Faye been doing well back home?"

"Of course. I am just happy that Faye isn't pregnant anymore. I was so worried about her during the whole nine months, that she began to say that I was overdoing the overprotectedness."

The two girls laughed a bit as James felt happy that they were smiling from the news.

"Well I am going to go get me a drink. I will see you guys when I get back."

They nodded as he began to leave, but bumped in to someone.

"Sorry, my bad" They both said at the same time as James looked at who it was.

Before him was a man that looked to the similar age with James, was 6 foot 4, and was looking to be about 230 pounds with a muscular and fit physique, and had dark tanned skin .His eyes were light brown and he had white hair that was made in to a small buzz cut. He wore what looked to be black shoes, dark bluish pants with white lines that was formed like bolts of lightning on the sides, a black sash tied like a belt, a dark purple like gi shirt but with one half gone, revealing the right side of his torso. He also had what looked to be Samoan based tattoos, ranging from his right hand to his whole right torso, and white tape that was on his hands while he held a duffle bag over his shoulder.

James felt something off this character, something different. He did not feel like a regular fighter, oh no. just by looking at him, he can tell that he was strong, almost like…

"Your James Artemis, right?" said the man as he looked at him. James nodded.

"Yes, I am. And you are?"

"My name is Ray Tariff. I believe that you met, or at least saw a friend of mine who was here tow years ago to pick up his daughter."

Just then James grins as he knew who he was talking about. It was at that moment that Roxie, Ellie, and Blast walked in to see who he bumped in to.

"James, who is this?" asked Roxie.

"This is Ray Tariff, and he is friends with that guy I told you about from the last tourney, the one who beat Joe in less than a minute."

"You mean Kei Takano? Wasn't he the one you said that might have been a real threat in the tourney if he joined?"

"Yeah that's the one. So Ray, I am guessing that you are joining in the mock tourney?"

"I have thought about it. I would really like to test my skills against you, so entering is my best option."

"Yeah I guess it is. But…how about we spar a little."

Ray smiled as Blast spoke up. "Wait, but you're the champion. Shouldn't you stay out of fighting until the finals?"

"Yeah, but if I just hang back, I will just get bored and rusty. Watching all of you trai has got me itching to join in. that, and I still remember just how strong Kei was. And just by looking at you Ray, and can tell that you are either as strong, or stronger."

"I'm flattered. It would be an honor to spar with the champion of Smash Bros. But maybe we should go somewhere else. Even though this area is large, I have a feeling that it won't be enough."

"Oh don't worry about that. I know just the place."

James then began to walk off while being followed by Ray. Roxie wasn't going to miss this as she was curious to see how strong Ray is and far James has gotten over the two year.

"Ellie, Blast, can you two go and try to tell some of the other competitors about this? I have a feeling that no one is going to want to miss this fight."

The two nodded as they went ahead and tried to inform the other smashers.

**Okay, well that was part 2 of the beginning. I am sorry for the wait, but it is difficult with the choses of OC's and what not. Anyway, I have an announcement. **

**All those who are interested in my Universal War Story and want to send in an OC, feel free to. However it won't be updated for a while because I decided to make it in to parts, and right now I am going to end part one. Part 2 will take up once I am done with either New Life or Blood Ties, so don't worry it will continue. **

**P.S: If any of you haven't heard, Robin Williams died today on August 11****th**** at the age of 63. I am very sad by the news and by the fact that it is suspected that he died of suicide due to massive depressions and many other problems. If you miss him, feel free to look at the video in my profile to see how he looked before he died, and please watch some of his movies, as they are very funny and memorable.**

**Robin Williams have been a great person from childhood, and he will be deeply missed.**


	4. Returning to the field (Part 3)

**Okay, I am back, and I have the 4****th**** chapter with me. Now let's get ready to rumble, shall we?**

**P.S: Once you are done with the chapter, read down for a special announcement.**

"Damn James, can't believe that jerk just up and left. He better have a good reason to leave me with that psycho green hair chick. Shit, what was her name again, Palatua? Paletena? Or…ah screw it!" said a rather upset Joe as he was walking around the hall and was headed to the wreck room to see if he can meet up with James.

"Now I am sure he said that he would show up there to check out the new comers, so I will most likely see him there." Joe then got a rather happy thought in his head as he made his way there. "Maybe I can meet some nice hot chicks there too. I mean, they most likely won't have the solid hot body of Samus, but if they are close, I won't pass a chance to hook up with them."

The thought of meeting girls began to cloud his mind so much that he accidently bumped into someone. He fell on his rear hard, and looked to see who he collided with.

Before him was a girl with long dark brown hair that reached just below her mid back. She had Brown eyes, was 5'4 and about 120 lbs with large blonde streaks on the left of hair and bangs that was curved and covers some of left eye. She also had small lips, a medium size nose and nicely shaped thick eyebrows and was pretty pale. As for her clothing, she wore a red hoodie that was just below belly button with a tight black shirt underneath, a fluffy layered black skirt down to mid-thigh and tight black leggings underneath, as well as black combat boots with bright blue laces, a headband with a shiny red bow on top, and a ribbon necklace with silver pendant.

Joe was rather surprised by the girl and noticed hoe pretty she looked. 'Well, seems as if someone up top is listening to me for once.'

Deciding to be nice, he got to his feet and helped her to her feet. "Sorry about that, I was thinking about something rather interesting and lost track of what was in front of me."

The girl took his hand and got to her feet as she gave a small bow. "It's okay, and thank you for helping me up. My name is Hannah. What's yours?"

"The name is Joe Row, and I am one of the toughest, strongest, and most bad ass smashes here."

"If that's true then why you lost to me?"

Joe turned to his left to see Mantis, and gave a slight arch in his brow. "Can't you go and bother someone else, man. And don't try to cramp my style, you only won because I let you win."

"Still going with that stupid excuse? Geez, how can someone like you be a veteran if you act like that?"

"What!?"

"You heard me. I have heard a lot about how you went around frolicking and trying to get with almost any girl in smash. Yet you proved you can fight with the best of them during the battle with Graves. What I don't get is this and this only: Why is it that someone who shows such high potential waste it on trying to go and get with countless women in an all-out fighting tournament."

Joe was silent as he took in Mantis words. 'Waste my time? It's not like I screw around all the time. Besides, I just haven't been getting serious yet.'

By the time he thought this, he saw that Mantis had left. "Huh, must have gone off to bother someone else. Sorry for that jerk coming in and-"

"Wow. He was so cute."

The smash veteran turned his attention to see Hannah having what looked to be hearts in her eyes as she looked in Mantis direction. He felt a little irked as he saw this. "Oh, don't tell me that she have a crush on the beetleborg."

The girl jumped in fright as soon as he said that. "A beetle, where!?"

Raising a brow, he felt curious to see what got her scared. "No, I said beetleborg. You know, a kid show that came on T.V. And what with you reaction? What, you don't like bugs?"

"Scared of them? I hate them! There nasty, and gross, and are just so frightening to look at."

"Really? Then I guess you don't like Mantis then."

"Mantis? You mean the guy who was here. But he looks so cool, why would I not like him? I mean sure the name is odd, but that doesn't mean he's weird or anything."

Joe was ready to explain exactly what Mantis really is and how he got the name, but then he stopped. 'Maybe I should keep my mouth shut and let her find out on her own. Besides, I still have to go and find James.'

"Well I have to go and meet up with a friend of mine, so g-"

"JOE!"

The two turned to the owner of the voice and saw that it was Ellie. He jumped right in front of Hannah and grind as he saw the girl.

"Ellie, it's great to see ya. Thanks again for helping me with that green haired chick."

"Her name is Palutena, Joe. You should do well to remember her name, less you want to get in any more trouble with her. But that's not important right now. I need you to go and tell everyone to meet me and Roxie near the wreck room, now."

"The hell, what would be so important that you would want me to do that?"

"James is going to fight a newcomer!"

"WHAT!?" Joe yelled in shock as he turned and began to run. "Ok I got, just be there. There is no way in hell that I am going to miss this!"

As Joe ran, Hannah looked at Ellie and smiled a bit. "So the champion of Smash is going to fight?"

"Yeah. Want to come?"

"Sure."

**(With Blast)**

Blast made his way in the lobby to see if he could find more participants there that wanted to see the fight. When he got there, though, he felt as if it was the wrong time because he saw two people arguing.

The two in question was Ethan and Wayne.

"The hell man, why are you still getting on my ass about that? If I say I can beat James, I mean it, so let me go and fight him."

"You must have a few screws lose if you honestly think that you can win. James would beat you in a second, and that only when he is trying to be nice."

"Oh, and you think you can do better against him?"

"We will find out when I fight him now won't I. But since that we are both still in the tourney, how about we go to Master Hand and see if he will let us brawl. That way I can shut your crazy ass up."

"Bring it punk. I will beat you so bad that not even your own twin will recognize you, as well as that hot stalker of yours."

"Hey, leave Diana out of this. Who are you, Joe Slow #2?"

"Who the hell is Joe Slow?"

The two continue to argue as Blast just watched. As he did though, he saw someone that was about 175cm tall and looked to weigh 148lbs. He has blond hair with one of his bangs covering his left eye, and pasty white skin with green eyes. He also wore a green open jacket with black lines across the color of his jacket and around the wrists, a pair of brown rider gloves with a sleeveless black t shirt, and blue jeans with black sneakers.

The person walked between the two and tried to break up the fight while showing a rather tired expression.

"Guys, look, I don't mean to be rude, but I can't even get a few minutes of sleep after my match. And besides, I hate to break it to ya, but I am have more of a chance of beating the champ then both of you, so why don't you just chill and relax? Or better yet, wait until tomorrow when the mock tourney is over and settle it then, kay?"

"FACK THE TOMMOROW! NOW GET LOST HIPPY, WE ARE TALKING OVER HERE!" Yelled the two as it was with enough force to cause the person to stumble. Luckily he was caught by another newcomer.

The newcomer was a tall, slightly thin man, with smooth, narrow skin that had an olive tone to it. His eyes were a bright green, while his hair was curly and black. While he had a rather regal and innocent look, it's rather spoiled by a jagged scar on his right cheek. Another rather odd feature on him was a gray tint to his skin. What was really disturbing though was that he also has dark black wings sprouting from his back, torn with cobwebs hanging from them.

As for his clothes, he appear to be wearing a black tuxedo with a strange, spiked purple shadow helmet, which, combined with his wings, made him look like some weird demonic lawyer.

"You alright?" he said kindly. He helped him up to his feet as the one he caught dust himself off.

"Yeah I am fine. Thanks for catching me, my name is Zekro Fudo."

"You're welcome, and the names Seven, but everyone calls me Septim."

Just then Diana and Ally came by as they saw Ethan and Wayne still going at it.

"Geez, we've been gone for ten minutes, and they are still arguing? I guess my brother finally found his match." Said Ally with a sigh.

Just then a familiar voice spoke up from behind. "It appears so."

The turned to see a male that was 6 feet tall, and had dark grey hair that was spikey, but went more to the back with a few strands near his face. He had two different eye colors; his left dark green, and his right gold. He also had a '0' shape scar under his right eye, and some strange tattoo that was around his body. He wore a black sleeveless shirt with a logo that had the words 'BlazBlue' on the front, Azure leather pants that wear supported by a chain, and a pair of running shoes.

Diana spoke up first as she recognizes him immediately. "Abei! It's great to see you made it."

"Of course I would. There was no way I was going to miss a chance to have a round or two with James. Besides, it's not like I am the only one who showed up."

He then turned to show two people stand by him.

One was a female. She had mid-shoulder length flowyish caramel honey brown hair. Her eyes were a pretty shade of hazel and warm honey and with a little warmth in them. She wore a white carnation in her hair, and wore her hair in a fishtail braid. Her skin was tan and she had a few freckles that dapple across her nose. She also wore casual dark skinny jeans with a baggy white shirt and a black leather jacket.

The other was a male. He had tan skin with alluring sea-green eyes. His hair was the shade of light caramel, and the front part was spiked up. He had a few freckles that dapple across his nose. He was skinny but muscular, but his legs were very thin, very fit for running. As for his clothing, he wore Basketball shorts and a t-shirt.

"Calypso, Nathan. You two made it here too?"

Calypso nodded as her cousin spoke. "Yeah. We decided that it would be right to come back here since we did showed up last year. By the way, do you guys know where James is?"

"Last we saw him was when we went to the wreck room." Responded Ally as she pointed to her brother and Wayne, who was still arguing. "However we left when those two got in to an argument over who would fight him. Hell, I am amaze that they are still going at it."

Diana made a sheepish smile as she agreed with her. "Well, Ethan isn't one to back down from almost anything that stands in his way. And- huh, wait, who's that?"

The others looked to see what she was talking about and saw Blast walking toward the two men arguing.

"Uh, fellas?"

"WHAT THE HELL YOU WANT!?" They yelled.

"Well, you see, I know you two really want to fight him, but James is getting ready to fight a newcomer that came in today."

"HE WHAT!?" both Ethan and Wayne yelled as the others was surprised at the news. Ethan then elbowed Wayne as he started to run to the wreck room.

"Get the hell out of my way, you heavy suited jackass!"

"Why you damn punk, get back here so I can shove my boot up your ass!"

Wayne made a mad dash behind Ethan as they both made their way to the Wreck room. Zekro and Septim looked at them going and turned to one another.

"Want to go see how the champs fight?" asked Septim as Zekro gave a nod.

"Yeah. Besides, I might be able to learn how to counter him by watching."

"Smart idea. Come on, let's go."

As they left, the veterans began to follow in tow as they headed to the wreck room as well.

"Who do you think is the Newbie that will be fighting James?" Asked Abei with curiosity.

Calypso shrugged to answer him. "I don't know, but I am sure that Ethan and that Wayne guy must be pissed."

**(With Joe)**

Joe was running as fast as he can to the wreck room in the hopes of seeing the fight. "I can't believe that some upstart a-hole thinks he can walk right in and fight James like that. When I see that damn dirt bag, I am going to ring the hell out of their n-"

***Crash***

Once again, Joe bumped in to another person as he fell back hard on the ground. He rubbed his head a bit as he lands on it when he fell.

"Watch where you are going ya-"

However he stopped when he saw that it was a beautiful young lady with a well-developed body and a nice height (5'7) to go with it. Her eyes were a warm deep brown and her hair flowed in beautiful ruby red locks. She was a beautiful with pretty pale skin. She was wearing what looked to be it is silver armor that was pretty fancy, with tinges of red, and a blue mini-skirt and red thigh high boots with two wings clips in her hair.

'Holy shit, she's hot! Time to work my magic and- Wait no! I don't have time for this, I have to go and see the newbie that facing off with James. I can't afford to-'

"I am sorry about that sir, I didn't saw where I was going. Please, allow me to help you up."

The woman crouched down and gave a hand to Joe. He look at it and then at the girl.

'I think James can wait, this girl is just too hot to miss.'

He slowly took the hand and stood up as he tried to work his charm and gave the girl a sincere smile.

"Thank you darling, that was very kind of you. How about I repay the favor, like buying you lunch? I am sure that a nice looking lady yourself wouldn't mind to eat with a gent like me."

The woman was silent, thus making Joe believe that he was going to have a shot with her. However, a new voice arrived as he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey buddy, over here."

He turned to his right and saw a man with light blue hair that was always ruffled or at least a little messy as it was also choppy and short. He had nice brown eyes with high cheek bones and a pale in skin tone, though not too much. He was about 6'0 was thin, as well as looking to be lean and nimble. As for his clothes, he wore a red headband around his head and a black plain cloak with baggy brown pants with silver armor for the bottom half of his legs. He also had a gray shirt with a light breastplate that was gray and black gloves with fishnet arm sleeves.

"Uh…who the heck are you?" asked joe in confusion. The guy made a small from as he pointed to himself.

"The name is Felix Ignis, and I am the guy who you crashed in to, pal. Now are you going to apologize or what?"

"Me? What about you? I was making a lot of noise during my run, you should have heard me and step aside. Besides, don't you know who I am?"

Felix raised a brow and went in to a thinking pose. "A retarded man child?"

Almost instantly, Joe eyes arched and his teeth grit as he glared at him with his fist clenched high. "Why you bastard, I am going to kick your fu-"

"Wait, stop." Interrupted the girl as she got in between the two/ "I am very sorry about Felix's behavior. Despite his age, he is a little childish. My name is Veronica Dupont, what's yours?"

Grinning a bit as he place his thumb to his chest, Joe began to speak as if he was a big shot. "Why I am one of Smash Bros. greatest participants ever. My name is legendary, my moves feared, and my skills desired. I make every man burn with envy and every woman fawn with lust. I am the one man that is sought after when the going get tough, and the hopes and dreams of the many are in peril. I AM-"

"Joe Slow."

"YES, THAT IS CORECT, I AM THE MIGHTY JOE SLOW, AND I- hey wait a damn minute!"

Joe looked behind him to see two familiar faces.

One was a girl. . She had Light brown hair kept in two messy pigtails. Her eyes were chocolate brown with black specks inside. She was tall, at 5'9. Her skin was porcelain. She was pretty overall; with long eyelashes and a well develop body. She had on Green khakis and an A&F jacket and t-shirt, both blue.

Besides her was male that was smiling. He had sandy blonde hair spiked up near front, and sea blue eyes. A few freckles ran across his tan face. He was around 6'0 and was muscular. He had on basketball shorts with a #18 jersey.

"Well well, it's been a while hasn't it Joe Slow?" said the male as Felix chuckled.

"Joe Slow, as in the guy who tried to flirt with almost all of the chicks in Smash two years ago and failed? I heard about you from Marth and Ike."

"It's Joe Row, you pale asshole, remember it!" Joe then frowned a bit as he looked at the two that arrived. "Well I guess it would be a matter of time before someone I knew would screw up my chance for glory. Hi there Noah, Melody."

"Same to you Joe. Who's your new friends?" asked Melody. He pointed to the two behind him.

"Meet Felix and Veronica. Felix and Veronica, meet Noah and Melody."

The four smiled a greeted each other pleasantly as Joe looked at the time.

"Shit, I have to go, like, NOW!"

He turned and began to run to the corner, skidding to a stop as he held his hand on the wall ready to turn until…

**(CRASH!)**

Like before, he fell to the ground hard, closing his eyes in irritation. 'Damn it, not again. Does god have a problem with me and corners?'

He slowly began to rise until he heard a voice.

"Sorry about that, I used my powers to make a barrier on instinct. Are you alright?"

The voice was female, making him grin as he decided to try his luck one more time. He grabbed the hand of the girl and held while still being on his knees and with his eyes closed.

"Oh I am fine, mam. I was in a hurry to see my friend fight a newcomer, so the fault was mine. How about I made it up to you by taking you out to eat after his fight, you can even come with me to see it if you want."

He then slowly rose as he began to open his eyes, believing that he had the girl eating out his palm with his charm.

"I would be honored if a beautiful girl like you would joi-"

Once he saw her though, he stopped as he froze in his tracts.

The person that he was trying to hit on was not a human but was a Gardevoir with one blue eye and one red eye that scar under it. It also had a blue bandanna on its head and a bracelet with a red gem In it.

To put it simply, he was hitting on a pokemon.

"Wow Joe, I never knew you had a thing for Pokemon. What a surprised." Said a chuckling Melody as she and the others went to see what the noise was.

Joe let go of the Gardevoir and raised his hands, as if the wipe away allegations. "No, you got it wrong, I wasn't doing anything like that. It was an accident, that's all."

"Ya sure about that? You do mess around with a lot of women here, so I wouldn't find too hard to believe if you tried to do so with some pokemon. Though I never really thought that you would do it." remarked Noah, as he was trying to hide his smirk, but with no avail.

Even Felix was snickering as he saw this funny, which was making Joe be a little bit more upset. Just then the Gardevoir spoke.

"Look, he wasn't trying to do anything, besides, it's not like he was going to have a chance even if he meant to. He just thought I was human until he got a look at me." she then stretched a hand to Melody. "My name is Destiny; it's nice to meet you."

Melody shook it with a smile as she greeted her. Destiny then shook Noah's, Felix's and Veronica's hands as well, greeting them with a smile.

'Well looks they are becoming friends quickly.' Thought Joe with a grin. 'Now I will be able to leave and-'

"Oh that reminds me, were you serious about me going with you to see your friends fight?" said Destiny, breaking Joe's chain of thought.

Veronica got curious as she looked at Joe. "A fight? Who's going to be in it?"

"Oh, well it's James fighting against some new guy that showed up. Now if you excuse me I have to-"

"You mean the champion? Oh Felix we have to go!" Replied Destiny with a smile. Felix nodded as they got ready to leave, but stopped at Noah spoke up.

"Hold on, me and Melody are coming too. We don't want to miss it." he then looked at Joe for a second. "Will they be at the wreck room?"

"Yeah, at least that what Ellie said to me."

"Okay then let's go."

The four then left as Joe looked at Destiney. "Hey, you want to come?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then, let's go."

**(With Ellie)**

Ellie was heading towards the lunch area, which would be the last area to announce the fight. She walked there and saw a familiar face sitting at a table with her sister.

"Kimchi!" she spoke as the girl turned and smiled.

"Ellie, you're here!"

"Of course, after all, there was no way that I was going to miss my friends here, now will i?"

"Yeah I guess you wouldn't."

The two smiled brightly as they were enjoying their reunion. Eliza saw this and smiled as she knew that her sister was happy meeting and old friend of hers.

'I think I will go and get myself some more of that salad. I don't know how, but Master hand sure knows how to get some food that is both healthy and delicious.'

The sister then stood up and grabbed her tray as she went to the line. She was able to see the last of the salad and was ready to take it until someone beat it to her.

"Huh?"

She look to see who grabbed it and saw a male that was tall and slim with a model like build, having orange hair and blue eyes. He retains beautiful prefect skin because he is narcissistic. He wore a fedora made up of what looked to be something of stars, a T-Shirt with the image of a galaxy printed on it and skinny jeans. He had white shoes with one side having a picture of Kirby and Meta Knight with Nightmare in the background and on the other, Ness and Porky. He also had leather black fingerless gloves, golden glowing bracelets and a fanny pack.

The man looked at her and flared a smile. "Sorry about that, I guess you were just too slow. Don't worry about the salad though; it will be used greatly as nourishment for me."

Eliza made a frown towards him as he began to eat it. 'Unruly jerk. He must think of himself so high and mighty to even say that and eat it right before my eyes.'

With a soft huff, the sister moved away to get something else to eat. As she tried though, the man followed her as he began to grab another food that she was ready to get.

"Once again, too slow. You must be faster than that, miss….I'm sorry, I am afraid I never caught your name."

"It's Eliza. Now excuse, me, I must-"

"Eliza? What a wonderful name. My name is Pomme. I came from the Kirby universe. Though I have popped in the Disgaea and the Earthbound universe."

She looked at Pomme with a bit of a shocked face. "You've been to two different worlds? How on earth were you able to do that?"

"Oh I have my ways. Honestly it's not hard when you are as clever as me. Though I am sure that you would love to be in such a status as I am."

"…Excuse me?"

"Oh you didn't listen, oh well I guess it's is a little shocking to hear from a person as great as myself, though right now I am not in the mood of repeating myself, so let's just continue on getting more food, shall we?"

'I am not going to lose this guy am i?'

Eliza gave up as she kept on trying to get some food. As she did though, she saw another person looking for something.

The person was a boy, having a slim build with black hair, green eyes, and a height of 5'3 and looked to weigh 150 lbs. He wore a navy blue jacket and a black shirt with black pants with brown leather boots. He also carried his sword oh his back.

"Crap, don't tell me that the last of the French bread is gone? I was looking high and low for it too." Said the boy as he gave a small sigh. Eliza looked at her plate and saw that she had some French bread. This was also seen by Pomme, who commented on it.

"Poor sap must have gotten here a few minutes after you grabbed it. Oh well, I guess there nothing he can do about it."

"Yeah, but there is something that I can do about it."

Eliza walked to the boy as he looked as her. She then held the bread as she looked at him. "Here, you can have mine for me."

"Really? Thank you very much, miss."

The boy grabbed the bread and began to slowly eat it. he soon stopped as he thanked her. "Thank you very much; my name is Wade Arlen, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Wade, my name is Eliza. If you want, you can come and eat with me and my sister at our table."

"Oh thank you, I-"

"How come you didn't invite me to your table Eliza?" said Pomme as he made a small, if not fake, pout. "You should know by now that I too like company as much as the next guy."

"I only just met you, how on earth do you expect me to know that?"

"hmm, good point. You need to work on that if you wish know a great person as myself."

Eliza was beginning to feel a bit angry as Wade raised a brow and whispered to her. "Is he a friend of yours?"

"To be honest, I kind of hope not. But I have a strange feeling that he will."

The two then became a little silent as Wade too had a similar feeling about that as well. None the less, the three soon finished getting their food and was read to leave to a table until Pomme spoke up.

"Oh, I think about my apple juice. Hold on I will go get it."

The two nodded as he turned and saw it. He made a grab for it, but found that he couldn't move it.

"What the?"

He looked at the box and saw that another hand was on it. He followed the trail to see that another man was holding it.

The man in question had light brown hair that was slicked back. Its average length for a male but it wasn't shaggy or messy. He had pretty pale skin and long eyelashes. His cheekbones were high and he had a smallish face. He was a bit shorter than average, being 5'10. His eyes were kind of gray with some traces of hazel in them, and had a skinny body that was lean and nimble. He wore a dark blue fancy collared shirt with gold lining, black jeans and knee high gray boots. He also had a dark blue cape.

The man wasn't alone though, as there was a female next to him as well.

The female was really short, being only around 5'2. She had black hair and navy blue eyes with her hair reaching her waist and her skin was pale as she looked to be pretty lean and nimble. She had on a navy blue headband that had white frills on it. She also wore a navy blue collared shirt with a white neck and a blue ribbon as well as a blue mini skirt with black knee high boots.

"Oh, sorry man, I didn't know it was yours." Said that man as he let go of the box. Pomme looked at it and shrugged.

"Go ahead and take it. I changed my mind."

"Oh really, thanks friend."

"Don't mention it mr…"

"Oh, sorry about that. My name is Silver Aliqua, and my friend here is Azure Calamus. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Silver, and the same to you Azure."

Azure stood silent a bit as she nodded to her. Pomme noticed this and though it a little strange. 'A shy one huh? Those are getting pretty popular lately.'

Gaining back his composure, Pomme was ready to continue on talking to the two until another voice spoke up.

"Excuse me, but do you happen to know where the wreck room is?"

The three looked to the side to see a boy who had a pitch black body with gray and crimson feet and was also a little taller than an average puffball while looking to weigh about 79 pounds. He also wore a mask and a bluish-reddish cape.

"Huh, who're you?" asked Silver with a curious voice. The person than pointed to himself.

"The name is Evan, and I came here to participate in this Smash tourney. But enough about that, do you happen to know where the wreck room is? I need to go and brush up on my skills."

"The wreck room huh?" said Pomme as he went in to thinking pose. "Sorry, I don't think I know for sure."

"Really? Damn, I wanted to go and practice a bit."

"Well don't worry about that much Evan. If anything, someone might be able to help you wi-"

"WHAT!?"

The four that was talking looked to the surprising sound as they saw Kimchi standing on her feet with a face of surprised. Ellie was also standing as she had a sheepish smile on her face.

"Yeah, that's why I came here. I wanted to tell you that James was getting ready to fight a newcomer and see if you might want to see it."

"OFCOURSE I WANT TO SEE IT!" Kimchi responded loudly. "Where is it going to take place?"

"I don't know, but Roxie was following them and told me and Blast to meet in the wreck room."

Kimchi smiled a bit after hearing that. "Then what are we waiting for?" she then look at the other as she raised her voice. "All those that want to see a good fight, follow me and Ellie to the wreck room, now!"

With that said, she grabbed Ellie arm and began heeding there. Her sister Eliza shook her head a bit as she threw away her finished food.

"Well I guess I should go too. No telling what I might miss if I don't." she then looked to everyone else in the room. "You all coming?"

She didn't even need to ask as the group nodded and began to follow.

**(With Roxie)**

'What taking them so long. They are about ready to start.' Thought the smasher as she looked around. A few minutes later though, the sound of footsteps could be heard. A LARGE number of footsteps to be honest.

Soon the sound stopped as she saw that everyone had made it to the wreck room.

Joe was the first to speak as he saw Roxie. "Yo, long time no see."

"Same to you Joe, how are you doing?"

"Pretty well, if I must say. I can't wait to see who the poor sucker that is going to get stomped by James in there."

"I wouldn't say that, Joe. This guy is strong, James said so himself. He also mentioned something that you should know."

The former marine raised a brow to this. "Really, and what's that?"

"The guy that James is fighting, he seems to be friends with the same person that beat you down in the tourney two years ago. Kei Takano was he's name I believe."

Joe went silent as he remembered the beating that day. Wayne on the other hand was a little lost as he whispered to Ethan.

"Who's Kei Takano?"

"He's the guy that beat the crap out of Joe in less than a minute. He wasn't a participant because he came to pick up his daughter, but from what James told me, he was really strong and seemed to be a very good fighter. Joe still remembers him and hasn't really gotten over it since he was knocked out in less than thirty seconds, and the most mess up fact is that he had a healing factor, so the guy must have been able to hit him hard and fast."

"Whoa, I wished I was there to see that beat down. Would have been a great picture to take."

"HEY, PISS OFF, YA PUNK!" Yelled an angry Joe as he looked at Wayne. "What the hell are you supposed to be, some glorified astronaut?"

"Astronaut? Yeah right. I am way better than some idiot on the moon."

"Yeah, but at least they are smarter than you…" retorted Ethan with a whisper. Another sound of footsteps was heard shortly though as August made her way to the room.

"Sorry I'm late. I kind of lost track of time."

Roxie gave a smile and was ready to talk to her on how things were going with Daniel. But just as she was ready to try, Silver popped right in front of her as she looked at August with a charmed smile.

"Well hello there, mam. It's very good to meet you. My name is Silver and i-"

However he wasn't able to finish as Wayne shoved him aside

"Excuse me, miss, but I have to say you look very nice. Would you like to sit with me and my buddy over here as the fight starts?"

He pointed at Ethan who was giving him a rather angry look. Wayne ignored it, but was grabbed by Silver on the shoulder.

"Hey, what's with the big idea? I was speaking to her."

"Well I was doing the same thing, man. So get lost."

"No how about you?"

"No you!"

"Why you-"

"You two do know that August id engaged, right?" said a rather expressionless Kimchi as she knew that the two were just trying to hit on August.

"SHE'S WHAT!?"

"It's true. She's engaged to Daniel, Master hands body guard. Right August?"

"That's correct." She responded, with a shy voice. "We're en…engaged, and uh… well I love him very much. So I am sorry but, I am afraid your efforts are kind of useless."

Silver lowered his head a bit in defeat, not seeing that Azure was making a small smile at his failure. Wayne on the other hand…

"Ha, this Daniel guy is pretty lucky that he is Master Hand's bodyguard. I bet you that he isn't much of a fighter though since he isn't participating."

He smiled broadly in his helmet, but saw a few looks of disapproval from the veterans. It was a little silent until Roxie broke the ice.

"Uh Wayne, I know you are confident in your abilities and all, but I think Daniel is a little bit beyond your level."

"If you mean little bit as in eons above his level, then I would agree with you." Whispered Ethan.

Wayne gave him a mean glare as everyone began to follow Roxie. They walked for a bit until they found a door that looked a little familiar.

August was the first to recognize the door and smiled. "Oh, so that is where he went."

The newcomers turned their head to her and was a little clueless as to what she meant by that. That changed to amazement however as the door was open, revealing a large coliseum base arena. In the middle of the arena stood James and Ray who was getting prepared for their spar.

James noticed the door opening and looked up to see that everyone had arrived. He raised his hands as he greeted them silently. Ray noticed this and spoke.

"You have many friends James. I can tell that they care for you."

"Thanks, but some of them are just newcomers that want's to fight me for the title. Trust me, I am not much of a reason for them to show."

"Oh, you think that, huh? Well James, I am sorry to say but I think you are wrong."

The smash champion place his attention to Ray as he was curious by what he meant by that.

"The fact that you're a champion is a reason, yeah. But there is also the fact that you are a warrior, and that you have the makings of something beyond a champion."

"Beyond a champion?"

The newcomer nodded to his question as he opened his bag. From it he grabbed what looked to be iron glove like gauntlets as he placed them on his hands. They slowly lock as he clenched his fist and went in to the bag one last time.

"When I look at you, I sense something of a higher power, one of which that seem to be buried deep within you."

From the bag he grabbed a black bandana with white lines on it. He places it on his head as he began to tie it.

"But for this fight you won't need to use that power. All that you need is to battle against me with the best of your abilities. For when you fight me, you will not just be fighting me as Ray Tariff…"

He finished tying it as the threads of the bandana dangled like a head band and he gave him a serious look as James saw his eye glow a faint gold for a second.

"But as Axel, the Master of the Art! Now, prepare!"

He then got in to a fighting stance as he faced James, who drew his blade.

'Something tells me that this fight might be a little bit more interesting than I thought.'

**Okay, I think that's everyone. Sorry for the wait guys, but I had to take time in thinking of a way to introduce all of the characters. If there is anyone that I might have forgotten, tell me, and I will fix it as fast as possible. Now on to other news.**

**On Wednesday, September 3****rd****. I will begin my first year at College. This is very big since it will be my first year, and I kind have been nervous about since I graduated from my old school. Now I promise you all that this won't stop me from making any more chapters. Now that the hard part is over in introducing the OC's we can finally get to the action. Anyway, be a little bit more patient, and I promise you will see more of this story in the future. So see ya later, Doods! **


	5. The Master of the Art

**Sup DOODS! Here is what you all been waiting for, the fight between Ray and James. Enjoy the chapter and feel free to review and comment.**

The crowed of newcomers and veterans stood at the stands as they looked down to see the fight that was about to begin.

"So this is the guy who challenged James? He doesn't look like much." Said Wayne as he was looking at Ray. Ethan responded to what he said though as he kept his eye on Ray.

"Don't underestimate him, rookie. If this guy is challenging James, then that means that he must be confident in his skills."

The armor wearing newcomer shook his head a bit as he showed his doubts. "Yeah right. I mean come on, this guy look like he should be in some karate competition. Just what does he think he will do when he take on someone who have a sword and gun? Oh wait I know: get wrecked!"

Wayne smiled as he looked at the others, but saw that they were silent. He was confused for a bit until Kimchi mention something.

"You might not be able to understand this, Wayne. But there is something rather unique about this person."

Eliza nodded to what her sister said and continued her comment. "Indeed. I can feel something powerful within him. It's nothing divine, yet it feels abnormal. Almost as if it's of a higher power."

"Meaning that this fight could be very interesting." Said a familiar voice. The group turns to see who it was.

There by them was Samus, as she was in her zero suit. "Long time no see, guys. How have you been?"

"Well actually." Said Ellie. "How about you? You came here to be in the mock tourney, right?"

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Ike is here too."

"Ike?" said Joe as he walked up to the blonde, who had a frown on her face. "Where is the guy anyway? Didn't you say that he was going to train for the tourney?"

"Yes, I did Row. In fact, I believe that he should be here soon."

"Oh yeah, well I don't see him. You sure he's coming?"

"Of course, why would I lie? In fact, he's here now. Look."

She pointed to their right and Joe looked only to open his mouth wide.

Last time he saw Ike, he was average in size and build. But now it looks like he just got out of the damn gym, looking to be a little taller and with more muscle. (Basically his Radiant Dawn Hero clothes).

'Holy shit, he look like a big buffed up brick shit house!' Thought the former marine as Ike greeted the others.

"Hello everyone. It's been a while."

"Same to you, Ike. But what happened to you? Last time you were kind of average in builds, but now it looks like you just hit the gym and the gym lost."

The sword user made a small smile as he gave a sheepish smile. "Well I sort of decided to train for the next Smash. Though by the look on your faces, I seem to have overdone it a bit."

"Gee, you think! What the hell did you do, spent two years doing nothing but pushups all the damn time?" Joe spoke up, still in shock from the appearance of the veteran.

"Shh." Said August as she tried to quite him down. "The fight is bout to start."

As soon as she said this, the other soon quite down as they looked at the two warriors ready to start.

"You ready?" asked Ray as he began to inch closer to James.

"You bet." Said the Smash Champion as he began to do the same.

The two eyed one another before then made a fast dash to the other. James raised his sword and Ray cocked back his metal gauntlet fist.

"GO!" Yelled the both of them as they collided, blade meeting gauntlet.

James and Ray seemed to be even as they were unable to make the other move with shear force. However Ray surprised his opponent as he pushed the blade away and gave a quick left jab.

James saw it coming and was able to dodge it at the last minute, and tried to elbow Ray's ribs. However, his elbow was caught as the combatant raised his knee and lowered his arm, preventing it from hitting it mark.

"You are going have to do better than that!"

Ray dashed to the side, away from James. The Smash champion was ready to go on the offensive until he saw something odd.

Ray seemed to be ready to move towards him, however he vanished as he was headed to him.

'Where did he go?'

James stopped in his tracts, but raised his sword by instinct as an attack was blocked. He saw that it was Ray that tried to attack him, somehow showing up on his right.

'Unbelievable. He is able to move fast enough to the point where he seems to vanish. He sure isn't a run of the mill fighter, that's for sure.'

The Smash champion watched his opponent's moves closely as Ray charged at him again, but seemed to have vanished like last time. James kept still as he held his ground firmly until he swung his sword to the left, only for it to meet Ray's gauntlets as he blocked the slash.

"Got you!"

Dashing to the left, James pushed Ray back as he tried to score a left punch. However, when it look like he was about to connect, a sly smirk formed on Ray.

Next thing James knew, he found himself sliding on his back as he hit the floor hard, skidding on the dirty ground. Once he stopped, he placed a hand on his chest as he clenched his teeth and looked up to Ray, who had his left hand sticking out as if he hit something.

'What was that? I could have sworn that I had a clear shot at him. So how did I get knocked off my feet?'

The champion rose to his feet as his adversary dashed to him. Ray went for a quick uppercut to James jaw, but missed as his foe dashed back at the last second. Feeling pressured, the champion spun about as he swung his blade at full force, however…

"GEKITAI!"

The blade seems to be rebounded by the block as James felt a blow to his side, making him tumble to the floor for a second until he flipped back on to his feet.

The swordsman eyed Ray as he saw that he was in a stance that looked to have blocked his swing. There also seemed to be a traced of a light purplish aura that was coming off of him. It was at this time that James smirked as he spoke up.

"Okay, now I think I get it. Yeah, it all makes sense now."

Ray saw that he was on to him and gave a small smirk to him. "I see, do you finally figured out how I fight?"

"Yeah. You're a defensive fighter, and not just some ordinary one at that. I noticed that whenever I was about to get in a good strike, you were somehow able to not only block my attack, but to knock me back with a force that was nearly equal to the attack I gave. With that said, it pretty makes sense on what type of fighter you are."

James raised a finger to his opponent as he spoke his claim. "You are a parry specialist, Ray Tariff."

The gauntlet wearing warrior slowly nodded to his accusation. "Correct. I specialized in countering attacks, as well as dealing them out. I knew you would figure it out eventually, so I waste no time trying to use it to see if it would work. However, it seems I underestimated your ability to withstand attacks. That and I know that you are holding back by some degree."

"So you can tell huh? Guess I shouldn't be surprised. You seem to have been in a number of battles yourself from what I can see in your battling style. I would even say that I would have mistaken you as a Smash veteran if I was new here."

"Thanks for the compliment. Now, how about we try this again, but instead we skip the warm up?"

"Oh you won't hear any complaints from me. I will gladly fight you without holding back, now come at me!"

"With pleasure!"

Ray started with a hard stomp as he pushed in with blinding speed. He gave a punch that was blocked by James blade, causing a loud, deafening clang in the area.

The challenger retracted his punch and swung a leg for James head, but missed as the champion dash back and then moved forward as he hit him with a shoulder blow, and followed up with a back hand strike. Ray step back from the hit, but was not yet finished as stomp the ground hard, making the champ loose his balance a bit as the ground shook a little, giving him the opening he needed.

The challenger gave an elbow to James side, and proceeded with as grab at his head and another at his leg, lifting him off his feet as he twisted him to the ground and raised his foot to crush his chest. He was about to hit his target until James grabbed the end of the foot with his right hand, and pushed him off.

Ray landed on his feet, but was not ready for James to leap in the air and swing his sword, hitting his chest a bit. He back away and looked at his body to see no blood.

"Hm, so it's true. You really can't bleed while in the stages here."

"Yeah, but you can still feel the pain of it, though not to the point where it will kill you as you will just pass out. Now, are you ready to go?"

"Of course, however, it thinks it's time I show you just how strong I really am."

Ray's words peaked James interest as he saw Ray slowly put his arms down to his side. Soon the purple aura that he saw before returned, however it slowly turned into a light golden color as Ray opened his eyes, with them shining like it had before.

"So this is your real power? It's a little intense."

James was right. It was intense. Ray's power not only grew, but it also felt as if it had gained a huge weight. He could feel the ground getting a little bit unstable as he stood at his spot.

"Yes, It is. This power is the fruit of all my training of the years. I have worked relentlessly since my early childhood to achieve it, the state of Absolute Serenity. However, since I have shown you my power, how about you show me yours, more specifically, you're legendary Golden Phantasm?"

The Smash champion gave a small look of surprise; however it was soon replace with a face of excitement. "Alright. I haven't use that form in a while, and you will be the first person here in Smash that I will use it against since Graves, so It will my honor to fight you with in that form. So…"

James slowly raised his arm high as his arm glowed green. Soon however it went to gold as a pillar of light shined with it engulfing him.

In the stands, the veterans were beginning to get excited as they knew what was next.

"He's using the Golden Phantasm? Oh this is going to be good." Said Joe with a grin as Septim raised a brow.

"Golden Phantasm?"

"Yeah, it the form that he used to fight Graves. It's basically his second strongest form next to his best, but even then he still doesn't use it all that much."

It was at that point that Eliza turned to her sister Kimchi. "Isn't that the form you told me about? The one where he summoned that large figure to almost kill Graves?"

"Yes, that's right. James told me about it once, and said that it's basically using a fragment of Noirs full power. It enhances his skills greatly, and he says that he feels a little, ugh what the word was again? Ultra, no it was Ulmi-"

"You mean Ultipotence?"

"Yeah that's the one. Ugh, what does it mean again?"

"It means to have a vast, unmeasurable amount of power, sister. In laymen's terms, it's to be that strongest being with no equal."

"Exactly. However James said that it only feels like that and that it's not really true. I don't know why he would say something like that though, because I really don't think he can lose with a power like that."

Hearing this, Wayne gave a small scoff, as if not caring about James transformation. "Yeah right. Put me in there I would win no problem."

"Oh really? Then why don't you jump in and give it a go, mister soldier?" Said Ethan as he decided to mess with Wayne. "Or is it that you know you can't since James would beat your ass in to next week."

"Why you little-"

"Quiet, both of you." Said Samus as she and Ike kept their eyes on the battlefield as the light soon faded.

As it did, James was revealed in his spot. His hair showed shades of gold that blend with his black hair color, having a few strand going in front of his face and a little going off to the side. His arm no longer had green markings, but gold, similar to how it was two years ago in his fight against Graves. The marking even went to his clothes, as it transformed the marking covered the shoulder portions of his body and made small droplets like marking on the back of it and was running off of it as well, making it look as if the attires was constantly burning golden droplets from its end. But the most noticeable change was when he opened his eyes. He still had the green right eye that he had since he was born, but his left eye was now opened; only it shined with a golden amber color with the outer section of it black.

It was then that his transformation was complete, as he has reached the form of Golden Phantasm.

"So this is the power I heard so much about. It really is strong. I can feel the very intensity of it just by standing a fair distance from you. I can tell that this will be a good fight."

"Same here. I am looking forward to see just how this fight will end. Now…"

James raised his sword as he gripped it with both hands; he then got into a stance as he looked at his opponent with complete focus.

"Let's go."

Ray nodded and dashed to his as he made rapid motions with his hands, firing off energy projectiles. They came near James, who slashed them away with his sword right until he saw that the challenger was closer to him.

Ray jumped and performed a downward punch. James saw it and backed away as the punch hit the ground, making a rather large size crater as some of the earthly debris came close to hitting him.

The champion landed on his feet as he raised a fist and tried to punch Ray, who countered with a fist of his own. The two clashed, as the air around them seems to break in something similar to a sonic boom, destroying more of the ground. Once the two separate, Ray tried to attack with a high kick, but the leg was grabbed as James threw him in the air and took out his gun as he aimed for him.

He focus the power in his gun and pulled the trigger, making a strong blast of golden light went for Ray, who got into a parry stance.

'What, no he can't…' James thought as Ray stretched out his palm to hold the blast and quickly rotated his arms as he cupped his hands and fired it, making it go right back to James.

"DAMN!"

The blast his James directly, but he blocked it with his right arm to lessen the damage. Once he did, he saw that Ray landed in front of him, scoring a solid hit to his chest.

The smash champion dashed back to get some breathing room, but Ray wasn't keen on that as he went after him.

"There is no escape, James."

"Escape? Who said I wanted to escape?"

The challenger raised a brow at this until he saw James swung his sword, summoning a large geyser of power that hit him directly. Ray was sent far until he landed on his feet and fell to a knee as he needed time to gather himself.

"That was a good move. I didn't saw that one coming. You sure know how to fight."

"You too, Ray. I never met anyone that was able to reflect my projectile with just their bare hands. You sure are quite a guy."

"Thanks. Now, let's end this."

"Yeah, lets!"

The two warriors began to run at one another as Ray vanished before James. the swordsman stopped and took a second to gather himself before he put up his blade to block a punch at the left, then at the right, and soon at the back as more and more quick attacks were being assaulted upon him as he kept blocking it with his blade.

At the last attacked the he blocked, James raised his foot as he hit Ray at the gut, giving him the chance to attack again as he tried a backhanded hit, however it was blocked as he received heavy uppercut that sent him high to the sky. After doing this, Ray clenched his fist as power began to surge through them.

"Now's my chance! I have to give this everything I got!"

He then raised his hands as he seemed to be ready to try something. However James saw this and began to cock back his right fist as golden light began to shine from it.

Soon, a large figure took shape behind him that had markings similar to his right arm, mimicking his motion as it too cocked its fist. The others saw this and knew what was coming.

"Oh shit, James is going to do the Knuckle Buster. Everyone, hang on to some, or better yet, get down!" yelled a frantic Joe as the newcomers raised a brow.

"Why?" asked Zekro. "It's just a regular smash move, right?"

"Wrong Zekro. The Knuckle Buster I James signature move. Normally we wouldn't have to brace ourselves, but when he use it during Golden Phantasm, the you best hit the deck!"

"Woah wait, it's really that strong?"

"Hmph, yeah right. I bet it's nothing but a stupid punch." said Wayne as he showed his cockiness once again.

Ethan stared at the armored newcomer and spoke. "Rookie, how about you just watch and tell me what you think after you fall hard on your ass when he performs the move."

Back in the fight, James got ready to use his signature move as Ray seems to be ready to do something.

"Heavenly Sky Eraser!"

Immediately after announcing the attack, Ray fired a blast of energy towards James. It was moving fast, but right when it came close, the champion made a counter attack.

"Knuckle Buster!"

The large figure behind James mimic his punch as golden light shot out of his right arm, propelling him downward to the blast with great speed. It met the blast head on, causing a loud crackling sound of power as James was still moving towards Ray.

However the challenger was not done yet as he cocked bask his right hand as well, focusing all of his power in to it.

"Not yet, I am not done yet!"

He jumped off the ground and followed the beam of his blast as his fist and James met, causing a disruption in the beam as a flash of white and a sound of another sonic boom echoed in the arena.

The crowed in the stand cover their eyes as the light soon died.

"Damn that was bright. Who won?" said Ike as he began to regain focus in his vision from the intense light.

"I don't know," replied Samus. "But I think we are about to find out once the smoke clears."

The others tried to look beyond the dust, as it began to fade away, they saw the victor.

There, standing tall was James as he seemed to not have a scratch on him. And there before him, looking to be exhausted as the powerful aura that he had moments ago disappeared was Ray.

"So that is the power of the Black King I heard about? Amazing. You truly are amazing. I gladly accept my defeat."

"Thank you for the complement, but you are no pushover yourself Ray. Your ability to counter multiple types of attacks is very unique. That and you proved to be able to keep up with me at your best level."

"True. But you were holding back, even when you used Golden Phantasm."

James raised a brow at this accusation. "You knew?"

"It wasn't that hard to figure out once I saw that you were not using the large figure to aid you in the fight, and that you seem to be lowering your power a bit from what I sense. I am not angry about that though. To be honest, I expected that I would lose, but I wanted to give it my best either way. Now that I have, I am truly happy that I have fought you."

"As am I to have fought you. Now here, take my hand."

James stretched out his left hand as Ray grabbed it and was pulled up to his feet.

"You know Ray. You should work with Master Hand. Who knows, you could be like an instructor or a teacher for coming fighters in smash."

"An instructor huh? Well if there ever comes a time where he would open something like a Smash academy, then I guess I will be there to lend a hand. However I am afraid that I should be off. My wife is waiting for me to come back, and I do have a dojo to teach my fighting styles to my students."

"You have a dojo? That's great. Can I visit sometime? Me and my wife recently had our son a little over a year ago, so who knows. Maybe you could teach him self-defense skills someday."

"It will be my pleasure. Now I have to go, but before I do, there is something I wanted to ask you."

"Huh, really, what was it."

"I notice that you seem to really doubt on yourself being the champion of Smash and a hero as well. Almost as if you don't want it. Why is that?"

The smash champion was silent for a moment before he spoke softly, making sure that no one else can hear him except Ray. "It's not like I don't want to be. It's just that the event that happened two years ago was my own fault. Graves actions was done partly because I wasn't able to finish him off in our first fight. In a stupid way, the fact that I didn't then made me a champion and a hero now."

"True. But from what I heard, you weren't able to have reached the power needed to gain back your family back then right? If you did killed Graves back then, then that would mean that you would have stayed in a world where your family and almost everyone there were all gone. So wouldn't that mean that it was better that you didn't killed him back then?"

James thought about what Ray said and found that he was right. If he did killed Graves back then, then Faye, Rachel, and thousands, if not millions of others would have stayed dead.

Ray saw that he came to realize this and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, James. You are a champion because you have a heart of one, and you are a hero because you use your powers in the right; to save the lives of others against evils that are great. No matter how much you may think are not either of those two things, your actions will always prove you wrong. Besides, it is as my master once told me: The ones who desire the least of something often get the most of it, whether they deserve it or not."

With that Ray left with James behind him, thinking about the saying.

**(Elsewhere, in a dark and unknown area)**

In the shadows of a hidden location, a pair of glowing white eyes with the blood red pupils opened slowly, as if from a deep slumber.

"**..I can…feel him. He…lives still."**

Soon a flash of light opened as the pair of eyes turned to its left.

"**Go. Find him…gain his attention, so that I can have my vengeance. I will finish what we had started, only this time…"**

A sound of animalistic screams was shouted in the air as the sound of heavy walking could be heard, heading for the open portal.

"**It will be I who will bring the war to you, Black King!"**

**(Back in the Smash mock tourney)**

"That was amazing, James. You really have gotten stronger over the past two years." Said a excited Kimchi as the adult gave a sheepish smile once he made it to the stands.

"Well I had to. I have all you guys gunning for my title, so I want to make sure you earn it by beating me. Besides, if I don't get better, then you could wipe the floor with me."

"Like how I will once I get to ya in the finals." Announced Wayne as he pointed to himself.

Joe, who was near him at the time, looked at him as he felt something for a bit. 'Why do I have a feeling that I acted like this guy once?'

"In any case, this just shows that you are truly champion materiel. I bet you would do well as a mentor as well." Said Ella.

'Talk about a coincidence. I was talking to Ray about him being a mentor, and now Ella is talking to me about the same thing.'

James smiled at the news and was going to respond until he felt something. He turned and draw his sword as looked at the arena.

The others was confused by his actions until a light shined in the coliseum. The light expanded as something walk through it.

What came through a small army of beats. They looked to be about 7 feet and a half tall, having sharp claws and teeth. Their bodies were built with a monstrous build as they were colored in red with white like symbols on their bodies. Symbols that looked vaguely familiar to..

'They…they looked to be similar to Noirs symbols.' Thought James with confusion. However as he looked, he noticed a bit of a difference. 'No, wait. they seem a bit more thinner and edger. They looked to be formed differently as well. Just what on earth is going on?'

However his thoughts were interrupted as the monsters looked at him with a furious glare.

"_**Kill…must kill black king…must devour….must…..consume!"**_

With their objective said, the group roared with bloodlust as they began to charge at James and the group, ready to attack and kill their target.

**I am SOOOOOOOO SORRY! I really am! I didn't mean to take so long, but college is kind of demanding now these days.**

**Anyway, I promise not to hold up guys up anymore. (Hell I am up at 6 AM right now as I write this, so this shows how much dedication I have to this story now don't it?). Anyway, to make it up to you. I decided to have a little vote. You see I was thinking of a few characters and I decided to have one of them in the story. They are not traditional Smash characters, so you might not know them. If not, look them up and vote. Now here are the possible candidates: **

Bayonetta (Bayaonetta 2)

Cloud (Final Fantasy 7)

Gunvolt (Azure Striker Gunvolt)

**That are the 3 that you can vote for (Though, personally, and YES, this does count as my vote, so one is already in.) I hope Beyonetta is voted. But yeah, I am cool with who you vote. You can choose one, two or all three. But keep this in mind: One of them will be chosen. Not all! Anyway, I am Fire assassin, and I need to get my ass to sleep. Peace Doods!**


End file.
